Sonic The Hedgehog: Is It Over?
by Smokestep
Summary: Sonic and Tails have gotten into a serious argument that drives their friendship apart. Tails learns to let go of the past, but as he thinks about his failing friendship with Sonic, his ex-friend runs off to tackle a dangerous mission. Takes place some time after Sonic X Episode 78.
1. Chapter 1

**Is it Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Author's note:** This is my first story. I don't think it will be my best story ever, but I hope you enjoy it.

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><p>"Tails, please? You must shoot," a young Seedrian girl begged, her eyes closed as if she didn't want to see her friend, captain, and love.<p>

"No Cosmo, I could never do that to you!" an orange fox screamed, tears streaming from his sky blue eyes, filled with pain. Their friends in the background, excluding Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, and the Chaotix were crying their eyes out

"Tails you have to!" Cosmo spoke more firmly this time." Trust me."

Tails closed his eyes, praying this was only a nightmare he could wake up out of. Even if Cosmo wasn't real when he did wake up, at least he didn't have to bear this overwhelming pain. "But-t-t C-C-Cosmo," the fox tried to reason with her, think of another way to win this battle, stuttering as he tried to hold back the tears that poured out uncontrollably. Finally giving in, he slowly lifted his heavy eyelids, revealing blue eyes unnaturally bright with sadness. "Alright Cosmo, I do. And good-bye!" Tails yowled the last words as he pressed the button that would fire the Sonic Power Cannon.

Tails screamed in horror as he woke up, glancing around frantically, trying to remember where he was. He was lying in his bed, out of breath, and trembling slightly. He was in a yellow-orange bedroom, his, with inventions lying everywhere; Tails never did a good job keeping his room organized. He never really had time to clean, nor did he always sleep in there. Sometimes he would fall asleep in his workshop. He was still shaking, so, to calm himself, he slowly looked around his room.

His window was closed, although the curtains were pulled back and the blinds were open, bathing the whole room in moonlight. Gazing at full moon in the starry sky now, after that horrifyingly familiar dream, reminded him of how he felt when he and Cosmo got caught in a trap set by Amy for Sonic.

That trap had been meant to send both Amy and Sonic into a lake, one he didn't remember now. That part was insignificant to his feelings while sitting with Cosmo, both of them staring at the moon in a sky the purest form of blue, the same shade as Cosmo's beautiful eyes. They had stood in the lake for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company, gazing at the moon in awe. It was then when Tails had realized his feelings for Cosmo. And ever since then, he had always felt this longing to be with her.

His nightmare, which had actually happened two months ago in real life, came rushing back into his mind and he shook his head, trying to forget these horrible memories, knowing he never would. Of course, the only horrible memories he had involving Cosmo was when he had to kill her with the Sonic Power Canon. And she had said she had always bothered him and the others, but mostly him.

There was light coming from somewhere outside his room, although very dim thanks to unchanged light bulb, and he figured he must have left the living room light on; he was so busy last night, and tired, that he probably went straight to bed. Great, there goes a lot of money toward the electricity bill.

When he tried to get up, his muscles, still stiff with remaining fear, didn't even budge. He sighed exasperatedly, forcing his arms and legs to move. After several seconds Tails was finally able to stand up and stretch, dragging his blankets with him. He grabbed them and threw them off of him. He did his best to make his bed, but it was difficult considering his entire body still felt clumsy and tired. After he finished he made his way toward his half-opened door. Tails nearly tripped on an invention sitting right in the middle of the floor.

_This is ridiculous,_ Tails thought as he rolled his again, tails twitching in annoyance. After he picked himself up off the floor, Tails started picking up the various electronic devices one by one, and looked around the room, satisfied and sure that it was spotless.

"I guess I better put these in the workshop," Tails mumbled to himself. He then continued to make his way to the hallway, inventions in tow, shutting his maroon-colored door behind him, using his foot to pull the door with him since his hands were full.

Across the hall was the bathroom. The tiles on the floor had been scrubbed recently, and very carefully, and everything was in its proper place; the young fox didn't want any unexpected visitors to think his house was a mess. But his room was a different matter; none of his friends would snoop around his room without asking permission, and his door was always closed.

Even though it was only three in the morning, the faint light emanating from the lamp in the living room was enough to see the pictures that were hung in the hallway. They were pictures of him and his friends, including Cosmo.

One was a picture taken at that party Cosmo had prepared for them, as a way to thank them. It gave them an excuse to relax, as Sonic had put it, as farfetched as that sounds. Seriously, Sonic the Hedgehog, relaxing? Even more surprisingly, Sonic was actually relaxing, and stayed around to enjoy the party, as well as being tormented by Amy insisting it was a date. In the picture, Amy was holding on to Sonic's arm, with him looking slightly uncomfortable, a smile on his face nevertheless. The Chaotix stood in the back, their faces drawn on by Knuckles for revenge for what they did earlier to him. Chris and knuckles, having been in a conversation before the picture was taken, stood next to each other, a glass of punch in their hands, a sincere smile on Knuckles lips. That was about one of the few times Knuckles had actually smiled during that whole trip. Tails himself, was standing _very _close to a certain seedrian, her not minding whatsoever. Besides the transparent kiss they shared before she left him, that was the closest he had gotten to her.

That had been a fun party, for everybody.

Seeing the picture caused Tails to sigh sadly. He still remembered how happy everyone had been, knowing that they would eventually defeat the Metarex. They had beat them, but no one knew that the price would be Cosmo, sacrificing herself to save him and her friends. Wishing he could forget this awful memory, he casually strode in to the living room, shaking his head, a trace of regret in his light blue orbs. Like almost everywhere else in his house, it was clean and organized.

His stomach growled, a sign that told him he should eat since he's already awake. He shrugged and made his way to the kitchen. This part of the house wasn't exactly spotless; there were quite a few dishes that needed to be cleaned, a take-out bag from a Chinese restaurant stacked on top of a few pizza boxes, and trash piled up in the trash cans. Tails' nose recoiled up in disgust as a response to the horrid smell; he needed to take that out soon.

But for some reason, something gave Tails a bad feeling about the kitchen; it had almost as soon as he stepped in. He glanced cautiously around the sweet-scented room, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. It was normal. Tails' head tilted to the side unconsciously, his confusion showing in his eyes.

Then he saw it. The lovely pink rose that had been only a seed when Sonic, Tails' best friend, gave it to him after Cosmo had died. Staring at it now, the fox felt the tears, and misery, that he had tried to keep at bay for the last month, flow freely. The fox dropped to the ground, collapsing and landing on his knees, head down, and all his inventions spread on the floor after he dropped them. H didn't seem to notice them as cracked sobs wracked his frame, tears pouring out hysterically, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Is it Over?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Author's note:** Finally I figured out all my publishing problems, and hopefully won't have them anymore so I can actually put the rest of my story up in peace! Some of my editing problems I fixed in here too, like using italics for character thoughts. It's not an enormous issue, but I have to be somewhere near decent, don't I?

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><p>It was a brilliant day in Mobius; birds were singing, the sun was shining brightly in the baby blue sky, and the leaves were whispering in the gentle breeze coming from the north. It was a perfect scene, one that would start up an abnormally sad movie. Except this one would start up another adventure for a certain thrill-seeking hedgehog.<p>

Speaking of which, that young, thrill-seeking hedgehog was relaxing in one of the lower branches of a huge shady, maple tree, its leaves turning red and orange, like they always did in the annual changing of seasons, from summer to autumn. His arms were back folded behind his head, one of his legs overlapping the other, gazing around through narrowed emerald eyes. His fur was cobalt blue, and he wore his trademark red and white shoes that gleamed in the ray of sunlight that passed the thick layer of leaves above his head. His shoes were among the only material things that mattered to him. They were always handled with the utmost care, and it really showed. How he kept them that clean and shiny with all his running around, no one knows. His expression was peaceful as he appreciated the beautiful landscape around him.

Behind him lay the start of a forest, with all sorts of unique creatures inhabiting its depths. Swaths of mountains were positioned on both his left and right, hiding the oceans far beyond them from his view. In front of him spread grassland after grassland, normal feeding grounds for some animals, but none were present today. Nonetheless, the grasslands were among the top nominations for the award for perfect terrain for running on.

Here, time moved slowly, and when the birds paused in their never-ending song, the hedgehog felt as if there were no other living thing in existence except for him. But he welcomed the tranquility with a blissful sigh.

However, as soon as he was finding the perfect position for a nap, the silence was shattered as the hedgehog heard a shrill noise somewhere near him. It sounded familiar, and he could almost name it, but it just wasn't there. He pricked up his ears intently, all serenity forgotten, and used his enhanced senses to pick up exactly what the noise was and where it was coming from.

Then the blue hedgehog grunted exasperatedly as he recognized the jarring sound coming from some of Eggman's clumsy minions. He could spot the two machines coming towards him right now. He stood up and dusted off his shoulders, ruefully concluding that the mad scientist was going to ruin this perfect day, and jumped down from the branch he had been relaxing on, twisting in midair to land in a graceful pose on the ground, all the while the robots watching him as they hovered over to him, making an awful amount of noise.

He shook his head in annoyance, folding his ears back, blocking out the sound. _You'd think Eggman would make sure his robots were a hundred percent functional when he sent them out on death marches. _He shrugged. _Well I suppose, it's not my problem._ He glanced at the generically bland robots again. _But it's still annoying._

Of course the hedgehog enjoyed his and Eggheads rivalry, but he sometimes wished that Eggman would let him relax for at least a day. Especially on a day like this, when the weather was just perfect. Couldn't Eggman launch an attack on a day when he was bored?

_God are they slow_, the hedgehog thought with contempt as the stupid robots got almost within striking distance. He positioned himself into a threatening stance, his now-glaring eyes full of distrust and annoyance, daring the robots to come any closer.

He would've attacked right then and there if the first robot that had reached him hadn't opened a compartment in the side his body and grabbed a folded piece of paper out, and started handing it to the hedgehog, its other arm ready to pull out a weapon if needed. Just in case the cautious hedgehog attacked.

The said hedgehog relaxed a little, his muscles still tense in preparation for an assault, his holly-green eyes now focused on the piece of paper, still not sure whether or not this was a trap. _But even if it is a trap, _his mind reasoned, _you can easily get out of it. _Listening to his mind, but at the same time wary of an assault, he reached his hand out to grab the piece of paper, the robot not attempting to attack him.

"This is from Dr. Eggman," the second robot promptly explained, once he had grabbed it. The hedgehog rolled his eyes. _You don't say! _His mind screamed sarcastically. But with that said, they both flew away, leaving the hedgehog staring suspiciously after them, still somewhat surprised that Eggman sent a letter.

His robots hadn't said it was, but what else could it be but a letter.

Examining it doubtfully, he unraveled the letter, and started reading it, obviously.

_**Dear Sonic,**_

Sonic smirked, amusement dancing in his eyes. _It even has the traditional "Dear" part at the beginning._

_**I have remade my base, since you've destroyed it, and I have found and am harboring six of the seven chaos emeralds. I invite you to come and try to stop me, though you have no chance. But if you want to try, you'll have to come here to do so.**_

_**From,**_

_**The Greatest Evil Scientist in the World**_

Sonic rolled his eyes again. _Feeling quite confident, are we? _But even as that thought processed through his mind, he felt anger burn beneath his skin at how Eggman dismissed him as a threat, even if he had six chaos emeralds. Sonic could still defeat him like he has a million times before. _Just as not as easily and quickly as before,_ his mind told him, though he ignored the thinly-veiled warning.

Clenching his fist in indignation, he crumpled up the letter, and raced back the way he had come, through the forest, to an unknown area in the distance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Is it Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

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><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

A few seconds later, Sonic reached his destination. He was standing right outside Tails' workshop door, thinking that the fox might be working on his inventions there. He hoped that Tails has been really busy in there, because no one has seen him for a week now, and Sonic didn't want to start believing that the worst has happened. After all, he had just gotten over Cosmo's death. Who knows what could've happened since then?

"Tails, it's me Sonic," the hedgehog called, rubbing his quills uncomfortably. Nothing happened whatsoever. There was certainly no sound of a fox scrambling out from under an invention, no sound of two tails swishing on the floor as he raced over to see who was at the door.

Sighing, Sonic knocked on the door loudly, hoping Tails would say 'Come in' at any second. He waited, crossing his arms and irritably tapping his foot on the ground for several long moments that seemed like years to the impatient hedgehog. Sonic rolled his eyes, though he was still concerned about the fox's mental stability. And Cosmo's death just shook him up so much, switching and rearranging his behavior around. When Tails was still moping, he was almost as insane as Eggman sounded whenever the evil scientist laughed.

You just couldn't trust that fox when he was mourning. It's a good thing Eggman didn't attack straight after the whole Metarex saga ended, or they would've been in trouble, for they might have needed Tails' and his flying expertise.

Sonic's gaze rested on the ground as he waited, nonchalantly inspecting his shoes as the gold buckles on the outsides gleamed in the early afternoon sun.

After a few more seconds passed, he sighed, turning the doorknob and opening the door, pouring sunlight into the dark room.

"Tails, are you here?" Sonic called to his friend. While looking for Tails, Sonic saw the X-Cyclone, looking relatively shiny, as if Tails had polished it recently. There were about ten different and unique parts placed on the workbench next to the plane. Sonic recognized a few of them, thanks to his experience of piloting and helping Tails with his inventions. After all, after Tails and Eggman, he was the most mechanically oriented.

Sonic felt a smile pop up on his face as he glanced at the X-Cyclone. _Tails must have been tinkering with his plane,_ he realized, grateful that Tails still loved to work on his inventions. Then Sonic took a quick look around the room, his eyes narrowed dubiously.

_But if he's not here, then where is he?_ Sonic didn't know the answer. He took one last regretful look around the workshop, turned around, and ran off in pursuit of his friend. But he stopped a millisecond later, somehow able to halt right in front of Tails' house, just in front of the door.

And that was the next place he looked, which was only about twenty steps to the right; Sonic just didn't feel like walking. But then again, when does he ever?

Though Sonic didn't know where else Tails could be, he guessed the two-tailed would be resting or other, since he obviously wasn't flying the X-Cyclone. Unless he went to Sienna City for groceries or something.

_Certainly haven't been here lately, _Sonic reflected as he gazed curiously at Tails' house, feeling faint pangs of homesickness burn in his heart. He's never had a real home. But that was something he was fine with. After all, the world was his home, and he was honored to be able to travel around it whenever he wanted to. But sometimes you miss home.

He didn't have a house, he never really needed one, and because of that, Tails had told him if he needed a bed to sleep in, he could use the one in the guest room for the times he wanted to. And he didn't mind when Sonic slept on the roof, which was what Sonic preferred when he didn't sleep in Mother Nature's territory. But sleeping on the roof doesn't really harm anything.

Not even bothering to knock this time, Sonic just opened the door and casually strolled in; Tails wouldn't mind anyway. "Tails?" he called as he walked in."You here?"

No answer. Great, just great.

Sonic shook his head worriedly, but stopped when he spotted a small fox sitting on the couch, staring at a flower on his glass coffee table. Sonic's heart sunk; he knew very well what that flower was.

"Tails, what are you doing?" the hedgehog asked curiously, his voice carefully neutral. Sonic knew the flower was once the seed he gave Tails earlier, and ever since Tails had begun nurturing it, it had bloomed into a beautiful rose. Whether or not it was Cosmo, Tails' crush, or her child was questionable.

Tails had actually asked him what he had thought when he had temporarily calmed down, and Sonic had given him his most honest answer: I don't know. Tails hadn't been too satisfied with that answer, but it was honest-to-goodness truth. Sonic just didn't know. Who did?

"What are you doing here Sonic?" Tails turned to look at him with a dull, lifeless glint in his eyes mixed in with a sadness Sonic couldn't imagine. It was almost as if Cosmo's death had caused Tails so much pain that he became a shell of what he formerly was.

"Well," the blue hedgehog began awkwardly, "Eggman's up to his old tricks again, and I thought you might like to come with me to stop him. He . . ." Sonic would've showed Tails the letter (Yeah, he's still holding it), but he trailed off when he saw the weariness in Tails' eyes turn into the unmistakable gleam of anger. Sonic stared back at him confusedly. _What did I say that was so wrong?_

"How can you even think of stopping Eggman at a time like this, while Cosmo's dead?" Tails screamed. Sudden understanding swept over him, like a wave pulling down a hedgehog that can't swim. It took all of Sonic's self-control to not sigh in exasperation and roll his eyes. _So that's what this is about. _Before he got too annoyed, Sonic mentally calmed himself down and thought out his next reply carefully. Although it was pretty difficult with Tails glaring at him like that.

"I know that, but there are still people, that are alive, that count on us to keep Eggman in his place. And we can't forget that," Sonic explained, making sure his voice was firm, but allowing a gentle tone at the same time. Of course his reasoning would've sounded sensible to anybody, but to Tails his words told a different story.

"So! Cosmo was once alive too, and did we save her? No, I killed her," Tails claimed, standing up. He started crying on his last words. True, Cosmo had been a friend to everybody, and her death had shaken them all, but Tails had been completely broken for a month after the incident. He had recovered shortly after that, but now it seemed as if he's going back to grieving.

"Tails, Cosmo knew what she was doing. She sacrificed herself willingly for us, and told you to shoot her! It's not your fault." Sonic desperately tried to keep his voice from rising; persuading Tails of something was difficult when the fox acted like this.

"It is my fault, and everyone knows it. Cosmo will never forgive me," Tails spoke in a quiet voice, cold as ice. He was still crying, but not as much as before, as if his eyes had grown used to punctuated sobbing. Tails looked away from him sharply, staring unblinkingly at the ground for about a minute.

Sonic stayed silent, allowing his friend to calm down, a sympathetic look in his eyes. No one as close to him as Cosmo was to Tails had died, so he didn't know exactly how he was feeling, and it wasn't really his place to judge him. After all, when Shadow had 'died' when they had used Chaos Control, Sonic had partially blamed himself, though he never said a word to anyone about, but he figured that those close to him knew something was up. But they knew better than to question him. Why not give Tails this space Sonic was allowed?

Sonic inwardly sighed as he already knew the answer: Tails had coped with this long enough. He needs help to really forgive himself. It wasn't his fault, and somehow, Sonic was going to make him see that.

As Sonic gained the confidence to speak up, Tails brought up his gaze from the carpeted floor to stare dead straight into Sonic's eyes.

Sonic couldn't recognize the fox standing there. The hedgehog felt like he was staring into the eyes of a stranger. He had never seen Tails' eyes so wild, so unfocused, as if he was staring straight through him, like he wasn't there. _I shouldn't be surprised_, Sonic thought to himself. _If he's been mourning over Cosmo this entire week, Tails is bound to be jumpy and irritable. _

"Tails, it's not your fault!" Sonic once again attempted to get through to the fox, even though he hated to argue with Tails, but he had to convince the young fox that he had no choice but to shoot Cosmo.

"Well then whose fault is it? Shadow's? Eggman's? The Metarexs'? The battle wouldn't have even started if they hadn't tried to take over the galaxy! And Eggman teamed up with them! And Shadow attempted killing Cosmo himself because she was a spy, but she still didn't deserve it! The Metarex forced her to!"

"I know Tails, it's no one's fault except for the Metarexs'. But we all knew Cosmo as well as you. And I know that she wouldn't want you to cry for her forever. I know she'd want you to live out your life and be happy. And move on."

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><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

Tails again felt hatred in his heart, except this time it was directed at the blue hedgehog standing seven feet away, staring calmly at Tails.

"You wouldn't know that. Stop acting as if you do. No one knows what Cosmo wanted besides Cosmo, and she's dead, because you couldn't save her." Sonic looked completely bewildered by the accusation

"Tails, I know how you feel, but - " he started to protest, but Tails wouldn't let the hedgehog finish.

"You don't know how I feel. You haven't lost the one you love! Amy's still here; she's not dead, unlike Cosmo!"

"Tails, I don't love Amy!" Sonic objected, dropping the letter in surprise. Tails rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right. Sonic, I know you love Amy and she loves you. You both have each other. But who do I have?! Oh yeah, no one!" Sonic was speechless at this point, shocked at Tails' outburst. "You don't understand me, you never did. You know what? Just get out," Tails uttered unemotionally, turning his back on his so-called best friend.

"Tails! I – " Sonic began, taking a step toward him, but was rudely interrupted. Again.

"Get out NOW!" Tails screeched in fury as he swerved around and grasped Sonic's shoulders and forced him backwards and out the door, Sonic too surprised to do anything, then shoved him down the few cement steps leading to the ground. Tails then slammed the door on Sonic and locked it.

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><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic , still on the ground after Tails had pushed him, stared at Tails' door, feeling hurt and confused. Sonic sighed dejectedly, and picked himself up from the ground. He dusted off his shoulders, wincing with slight pain. He stretched, making sure all of his arms and legs still functioned properly after, literally, getting thrown out of Tails' house. Taking his time, the hedgehog wondered what had caused Tails to act like that; the fox certainly had never spoken to Sonic like that, nor had he looked at the blue hedgehog with such hostility. Sonic understood that Tails loved Cosmo, but yet Sonic felt disappointed and anxious that he may have lost his friend's trust forever.

Sonic longed to return Tails back to his normal, perky self, but his instincts warned him that he had to stop Eggman as soon as possible; he couldn't hang around much longer. And, like always, he had to follow his instincts, no matter how much he didn't want to.

"I guess I'll sort out Tails after I stop Egg head and whatever idiotic plan for universal conquest he has now." Sonic silently cursed himself for talking to himself, especially since he didn't know why. He figured it was because Tails would typically be there for Sonic to talk to.

Before Sonic raced off towards Eggman's base, located on an island, as the directions say, he glanced back at the home that was slowly becoming Tails' private hideout.

"Oh Tails," Sonic muttered, then hit himself on the head for talking to himself once again. "I've always been much more of a thinker than a talker, so why am I starting now?!" Sonic mumbled before he realized he did it again. The hedgehog sighed, face-palming, and shook his head in frustration. Then he noticed something wet hit his fur. He looked up to see dark clouds reigning over the afternoon sky. He eyed the clouds wearily, knowing a storm would be upon them soon. They had already started pouring their load of rain onto the land below, giving plants and trees life, while soaking the hedgehog to the bone.

_This is perfect weather for running in_, Sonic contemplated sarcastically, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. Then at supersonic speeds, the blue hedgehog took off, dodging every obstacle in his way like a professional.

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><p><strong>Smokestep:<strong> I knew this would be longer than the other chapters, but I didn't think it would take this long to write and type it, but that's what writer's block can do to you.


	4. Chapter 4

**Is it Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

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><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

Tails was still seething with rage as he walked as he walked stiffly away from the door. He couldn't believe that Sonic had told him to move on. He couldn't, he just couldn't walk away from Cosmo like that. It was the least she deserved. No one deserved to be forgotten.

As the fox ambled back to the couch, his steps grew very unsteady. He slowly sat down, again gazing at the rose, deep in thought.

His argument with Sonic bothered him. They never fought!

_Until now_, Tails reflected regretfully.

The uncomfortable feel of the couch aroused Tails from his thoughts. Tails shifted over to the left a little, and then, when that didn't feel comfortable, moved a little more to the left, but no matter what position he was in, it was still uncomfortable.

_Tails rolled his eyes. Why is this couch so bumpy?_ Tails asked himself. _Great, now I need to go couch shopping_. He felt annoyed and furious; aggravated at his sofa, and enraged at himself. In the back of his mind, he felt he took it a bit too far.

**You know, you didn't have to do that**. His conscience was trying to make him see logic.

_Well, what do you want me to do? I can't let go of Cosmo_, Tails argued back.

**That's your problem!** His conscience cried exasperatedly. **You're so caught up in the past that you can't see the present, and the people there.**

_Well, I know I didn't imagine that fight, so obviously I am aware of the present._

**First of all, it wasn't even a fight; it was an argument, a quarrel if you prefer.**

_Whatever._

**This is exactly what I mean. You don't care about anything. You don't care about your friends, even though THEY'RE concerned about YOU. You just ignore them. You don't even care about yourself.**

_Yes, I do!_

**Oh, really, because if you did, you would eat and do the things you love doing. Or should I make that, 'used to love'?**

_The GIRL I love is already gone._

**I know that, but she wouldn't want you to be miserable for the rest of your life.**

_Have you no sympathy at all?_

**I do, but this has gone on for a week.**

_A week? It has not been a week._

**Yes it has. Check the date on your computer.**

_Fine, if it means you'll shut up!_

Tails stood up and stretched, welcoming the sensation, and glanced at the rose with a gleam of longing in his eyes. Then he dashed at a relatively fast speed through the hallway, cautious not to look at the photos hung up, past his bedroom and restroom, and climbed up the stairs waiting at the end of the hall. There was a ledge right above Tails' bedroom, with rails on the side. On the ledge there were three doors, side by side. One led to Tails' office, another to the guest room, and the last to a supply closet.

Tails skipped the first two and opened the one on the far left. Inside were bookshelves, filled with encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and various novels respectively. There was also a computer desk, made of wood and glass, that Tails built himself, using his carpentry skills. Tails strode over to it, sat in the computer chair, and pressed the 'POWER' button. He didn't have to wait very long for it to turn on. He started typing his password, and clicked on the 'Log in' button.

_C'mon stupid screen, show the time already_. Tails was becoming more and more impatient, thanks to grouchiness, drowsiness, and starvation; he hasn't been sleeping well or eating full meals for that entire week. Finally his background showed up, and he could see the date, and prove his impulsive conscience wrong.

But when he shifted the cursor to see the date, both his mind and body froze, as if the fox was a statue. He had a look of shock and dismay on his face, fore it had been a week since he'd done anything besides mourn Cosmo. Unlike the first month after Cosmo's death, he never realized how much time had passed. He thought it had only been a day.

**I told you**, his conscience muttered sympathetically.

"I didn't know it had been. . ." Tails trailed off, tearing his eyes away from the computer screen. "So, it's been a week since I've seen anybody?" Tails asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

**Yes**, his conscience answered sadly, **and not only did you just turn away the one person who cared enough to come see you, but you also threw him out.**

"You're right. I can't believe I did that to Sonic. He's always been there for me, encouraged me, and saved me. And now he's gone off to stop Eggman by himself"

**He'll be fine, he always is**, his conscience stated confidently. **But now that we got that settled, what now? **

"I'll go finish upgrading the X-Cyclone," Tails answered in a cheerful tone, unaware that he was really just talking to _himself _this entire chapter. He turned off the computer, and ran out of the room, not bothering to shut the door. When he reached the living room, he spotted something he didn't see before.

There was a crumpled piece of paper lying on the floor. Tails wondered why he didn't just throw it away. He shrugged, then bent over to pick it up. He straightened it out and immediately saw something strange.

_Hm, 'Dear Sonic', what's that about? Sonic doesn't receive letters._ As Tails continued reading, his eyes able to scan the words carefully, but swiftly, his expression changed from curiosity to terror.

"Oh no," Tails whispered shakily. _This was why he wanted my help. Why didn't he tell me Eggman has six chaos emeralds?_

**You didn't give him a chance.**

_Not you again, and I don't need anyone telling me it's my fault, I already know_. Tails thought despairingly. He shook his head_. I have to stay focused. It's only been about a minute, maybe Sonic is somewhere nearby where I can call to him, and he'll hear me_. But Tails didn't have much hope.

He sprinted outside faster than he's ever been before. "Sonic," he called urgently. There was no answer, and no hedgehog in sight to give him one.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep:<strong> Tails' house is in a very odd arrangement isn't it? That's what I get for not planning things out properly. Oh, well. Can't change it now. I just wanted to say thanks to anyone reading my story and to the people that reviewed it, and I'll try my best to make it an awesome story. Stay tuned for the next part, we get to see what Sonic's been up to this whole time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

_He's not here! _Tails thought, panicking.

**And you're surprised?**

_Well no, but I'm still worried. Sonic has never gone on a mission alone against Eggman when he had six chaos emeralds! Usually he had me or Knuckles with him. _

**I know that.**

_How would you know?_

**Because YOU know.**

_How does that prove anything?_

**Because I am you, you idiot!**

**. . . **_ You got me there._

**So, how are you going to help Sonic?**

_Well, I'll have to finish upgrading the X-Cyclone, then go to the base on Sea Cove Island._

**But, won't that take a few days? By that time, Sonic will have already destroyed the base.**

_Well, if I haven't seen Sonic by the time I'm done, I'm going to search for him._

**How would Sonic get there?**

_I don't know. He could've used . . . _

**The X-Cyclone?** his conscience guessed. **So he knows how to fly it then.**

_No, duh! You should know that the plane was originally his._ Tails thought irritably as he ran to the workshop. He grabbed the door knob and pushed the door open, then flipped on the light switch.

Tails felt relieved at the sight of the X-Cyclone, exactly as he left it. If Sonic had flown the plane to Eggman's base, it would've run out of fuel in a half hour, and that wouldn't be enough to get him to the island. The image of Sonic plunging into the ocean with no way to get out, just drowning, caused Tails' body to shake, and he breathed deeply to calm himself down.

"Ok, so he didn't take the plane. I guess he must've tried to run across the water."

_And that's not good either. He can't take on the power of six emeralds by himself._

Tails sighed infuriatedly_. _He understood that he needed time to get the X-Cyclone back into flying shape, three days at least. And by that time, it could be too late. But Tails had to try; he owed it to Sonic. If their roles were reversed, Sonic would've already begun work on the X-Cyclone, not standing around thinking about it. Besides, Sonic trusted him.

With that in mind, Tails felt a renewed sense of confidence, knowing he would make it in time." I've done enough moping, it's time to get to work." And with that, he dashed to the plane, grabbed his tools and began to fix the plane up, little by little.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic ran through the forest, not slowing down one bit. The trees around him were blurred as, it normally would when, he ran at the speed of sound. He jumped, ducked, and swerved in all the right places, not slamming head-first into trees, nor tripping on the various plants, roots, and vines on the ground.

Feeling the wind in your face at those speeds would've been too much for anybody to handle, but the blue hedgehog was used to it from constantly running, seventy percent of it for pleasure, and the other thirty percent for stopping Eggman and other stupid villains who try to take over the world.

The thrill of going at such high speeds was tempered by worry for Tails. He still couldn't believe what Tails had done, nor understand it. No matter how angry Tails was, he'd never yell at his friends. So Sonic couldn't comprehend why he had yelled at him.

_Maybe I'm not his friend anymore. I guess Cosmo is just too important to him to let go. _Sonic hadn't meant for Tails to forget Cosmo, just to live his own life. The thought of losing his best friend disheartened him. He couldn't imagine his life without Tails. Ever since he met the young fox, they had been best friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Flashback<strong>

* * *

><p>Tails walked through the forest, alone and miserable. He was crying heavily. Like always, the other kids had teased him about his twin tails and his interest in mechanics. This time, however, they had decided to destroy his new invention. He was carrying the broken piece of scrap metal now. His tears had subsided, but he couldn't help wondering about something.<p>

_Why do they make fun of me? What did I ever do to them? _His thoughts were interrupted when his sensitive ears picked up a noise. Someone was coming towards him, very swiftly by the sound of it. Tails felt his fur bristle with fear. He knew it wasn't the bullies, the stranger was moving too fast. It was probably someone a lot stronger too, who would do more than tease him. His body froze in horror, not wanting to be seen. But his fear changed when a blue hedgehog materialized out of nowhere and skidded to a stop. Tails was impressed by his speed; the hedgehog seemed to appear out of nowhere, and he wasn't even sweating. Nor was he panting or looked the least bit tired. With this incredible ability, the hedgehog took off, following the trail. And for some reason, he felt no fear toward this newcomer, as if he could sense this guy wasn't a jerk like the others.

"Wow, that guy was cool! I wonder where he's going," Tails said to himself as he ran up the trail, twirling his tails to get some extra speed. A gap in the trees led Tails to a clearing on a beach. The fox didn't spot the hedgehog anywhere, but he did see a red biplane in the middle of the clearing. Running towards it, he gasped in amazement. He climbed into the cockpit to inspect the controls more closely.

"Wow, this plane looks pretty fast, but I bet I can make it even faster," Tails claimed to no one in particular.

Ten minutes later we find Tails giving the plane a nice new coat of blue paint. Tails had already overhauled it to go at speeds of Mach two. Tails didn't paint over the word 'SONIC' on the plane though. Whoever owned the plane probably put it there for a reason.

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice behind him asked.

Tails dropped the paint brush he was using, and turned around sharply to see the blue hedgehog standing there. _Now I know whose plane it is._ Tails prepared himself for hostility, but the hedgehog's emerald eyes showed no anger, just confidence and friendliness.

Not knowing how to answer, Tails put his arm behind his head. "Sorry, but when I see a machine, I can't help myself. Hope you don't mind that I changed the engine to make it faster."

"I like what you did with the color too," the hedgehog complimented.

Tails' eyes glowed at the praise. "Come and see what else I did," Tails said enthusiastically, focusing his attention on the plane.

"So, you've been following me around all morning to check out my airplane," Tails stiffened at the comment, "or is there something else you want?" This hedgehog just complimented his skills, and he didn't sound angry, but Tails was still cautious about getting on anyone's bad side.

Tails turned to face the hedgehog. "Well, you see, I like to build and repair stuff," Tails explained, staring at the ground. "So they all make fun of me. You looked cool so I followed you and when I found your plane, I figured I'd fix it up, and we could be friends," Tails finished, lifting his eyes up from the ground, brightening a little. "If you want to," Tails added.

"Well, what's your name, pal?" the hedgehog asked.

"Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails."

"My name's Sonic," the hedgehog introduced himself. Tails figured as much, since Sonic's name was on the plane. "Nice job, Tails! I could use a mechanic and a friend," Sonic continued.

"You mean that?" Tails questioned, not believing what he had heard.

Sonic smirked and gave Tails a thumbs-up. "You bet!"

* * *

><p><strong>End of Flashback<strong>

* * *

><p>The hedgehog sighed happily as he remembered how the fox had reacted when he gave him the Tornado as a gift. He had changed its name several times, based on the new upgrades Tails kept adding.<p>

_And the X-Cyclone just keeps on getting better and better, thanks to the renovations._ Sonic reflected, hoping Tails would be back to normal soon.

Forest dwellers, like rabbits, bears, and foxes, glanced curiously in his direction as he sped by, then went back to what they were doing. _How big is this forest?_ Sonic speculated, scanning the scenery. The older and taller trees blocked off sunlight, so about half the forest was thrown into darkness 24/7. Sonic didn't mind; he had 20/20 vision, so he could see perfectly well during both the day and night. The plants didn't care either; even without the warmth of the sun to help them grow, plants were still lively, the flowers colorful, standing out amongst the rest of the forest, and the bushes lush and flourishing. Most of the animals inhabiting the endless blackness were owls and other nocturnal creatures. They didn't seem to mind, but they are nocturnal, so they like the night.

Sonic didn't understand how the plants were able to mature without any sun, or rain for that matter, but he didn't question it. _Maybe I should tell those crazy plant scientists about this._ Truth is, that no human even knows of this mysterious forest. Sonic hadn't even known about it. He only found out about it because of Eggman's directions. _I hope I can remember the directions. _Sonic only took a brief glance at them, but he trusted himself to remember. He did have a photographic memory, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Up ahead, Sonic spotted light. _Finally,_ he thought, relieved. He heard the sound of crashing waves and found himself at a beach, just like the directions had shown him. This was the part of getting to Eggman's base he didn't enjoy. He may find the sound of crashing waves and the gentle breeze relaxing, but it didn't mean he liked to swim. It's quite the contrary actually. He just straightforward hated water.

Sure, he _knew _how to swim, but he didn't like it_._ He only did it if he had to, and that's after he finds out there's no other choice. But this time, Sonic thinks he may have the perfect idea.


	6. Chapter 6

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic stared out at the sea, soaking up the sun's warmth. Thankfully it wasn't raining here like how it had been in the woods. That was about the only advantage of being in the dark half of the forest. When it rained the trees would block the rain from drenching you, like an umbrella.

Sonic walked to the edge of the shore, facing towards the wind, the waves lapping at his shoes. According to Eggman's directions, Sea Cove Island was about 2,500 miles to the east of the small inlet clearing. Sonic calculated the distance, and figured it would take five minutes to reach the island.

Guaranteed he would overcome his nervousness. His idea was to run across the entire ocean, so he didn't have to get wet. He hadn't tried it yet, and he was still paranoid at the thought that there would be no solid ground underneath him. If he made one wrong move, game over for him. He would drown, and no one would be there to help him. He knew how to swim, but eventually he would tire out and give in to the threats of the sea, whether he wanted to or not.

But Sonic also resolved that if he didn't stop Eggman, everyone would die anyway. So, despite his growing anxiety, he convinced himself to give it a try.

With a smirk full of confidence, he situated himself into his running stance, and started dashing. Sonic was hardly surprised that his idea worked; he suspected it would, his heart just didn't want to listen to his mind. Besides he never really wanted or needed to. He only had to deal with water twice when he had to dive in to retrieve a chaos emerald, and to save Amy when she nearly drowned.

It was more challenging than Sonic thought to keep his balance. It was mostly his fault though, since he was so tense and not accustomed to steadying himself on the water. But Sonic swiftly got the hang of skimming the surface.

He then heard a cry somewhere. It sounded vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't remember exactly what it was. He turned his head to look around, carefully keeping himself stabilized while doing so. He saw nothing, and was beginning to think he imagined it. Than it resonated again, a lot louder than before. That's when he noticed a black fin ripping through the water, twelve feet behind him. Sonic wasn't concerned; it was just another killerwhale, or orca, if that's what you prefer. Instead he questioned how it was able to keep up with him. Sonic then reflected that _he _was going slower than usual, and had not yet realized it. He guessed he was going slower so it'd be easier to balance. Sonic glanced back to see that the orca was gaining on him, raising itself slightly out of the water. The hedgehog could now see its beady eyes, staring at him as if Sonic was its next meal. Its wide mouth opened, showing sharp teeth, but Sonic didn't care.

_Well, time to speed up._ Sonic picked up the pace, his feet becoming a blur. He sneaked a quick look behind him one last time, as the orca let out an angry bellow, furious that it let its prey get away. Then it jumped out of the water and landed back in, in the opposite direction, splashing water up into the air. Its black and white tail was the last thing Sonic saw, before he turned to see where he was headed.

As Sonic continued running, he spotted a few other aquatic animals. Dolphins danced, leaping out of the ocean and letting out their shrill cry. Pelicans flew overhead, swooping down to grab a ton of fish in their beaks, then flying back to the shore to dine on their catch. Sonic's stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten anything since that morning, and that had been an apple. He imagined himself feasting on a chilidog, and he licked his lips. Then he shook his head roughly, enraged at himself for thinking about lunch when Eggman could be doing who knows what. How would he even get food? He was out in the middle of the ocean!

So Sonic kept up the pace, ignoring the hunger pains gripping his belly.

He had also predicted right when he reckoned it would only take several minutes to reach the island. Sonic identified the enormous base before anything else; it is a base, right? Because that thing looked as tall as the Eiffel tower. And despite being uneven, it was still standing. It wasn't completely lopsided, but the top was. Sonic realized it also wasn't just tall; it was pretty long as well. And it was very colorful, but there was an over-abundance of dark purple.

_As if we haven't seen that before. But why does Eggman like purple so much? Almost all his bases are purple!_ Sonic thought exasperatedly.

And with every second that passed, he was getting nearer to the island. It was pretty small. All that was on it was the purple base and a snow-capped mountain, with a tiny forest in the middle, acting like a borderline between nature and Eggman.

Seeing the shore of the island caused Sonic to speed up to full throttle. And in less than a nanosecond, he was standing on solid ground again. Sonic relished the feeling of something sturdy beneath him, something that wouldn't kill him. Sure, there are earthquakes, but Sonic can survive an earthquake easily.

A robot must've been on guard, watching for Sonic, because almost as soon as he set foot on the island, a missile shot out from the bushes. Sonic dodged nimbly, sidestepping to the left. He pinpointed where the missile came from, then spin dashed the robot shooting him. Now it's a piece of scrap metal. But Sonic anticipated more were coming; surely the robot that tried to kill him, and failed miserably, sent a warning to the base. Sonic shrugged, but figured the answer was yes.

_Which means every robot will be on alert, or they'll just assault me here._ Sonic preferred to be the attacker and decided that he didn't want to be ambushed.

Sonic's emerald gaze rested on the base, choosing the best place to infiltrate it. He searched for the route with the least amount of robots. The more time he spent blowing them up, the more time Eggman had to prolong his plan, whatever it was. And that's time Sonic very well may need.

There weren't as many robotic minions on the east wing, so Sonic concluded it was his best bet.

_East again? Why am I going east all of a sudden?_ He thought with annoyance. Sonic glimpsed a few robots, about ten times his size, lumbering towards him, and that was his cue to get moving.

Sonic sprinted towards the base, swerving left and right to avoid homing missiles. Instead of destroying Eggman's toys, he ran straight past them, his main concern the base.


	7. Chapter 7

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic eyed the base as he sped towards it, trying to guess where Eggman might be. Since it was so massive, there were about a hundred possibilities. And the only way to find the Dr. was to search the entire base, from the boundary to the core. Sonic will even turn it inside out until he finds the maniac who created and built it. It shouldn't be too difficult; all he had to do is find the place with the most robots.

He was getting dangerously close to the fortress now. So he wouldn't crash into the wall, Sonic skidded to a stop. Luckily he halted when he did. Otherwise he would've smashed right into it, head-first, unintentionally committing suicide. Because, of course, physics wouldn't let him live. And crashing into a concrete wall would be just as painful as being hedgehog road kill. So yeah, he's indeed very lucky. Either that, or he just has good timing.

Sonic stared at the wall for a few seconds, then walked up to it, and hammered it with his left fist to see how sturdy it was.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. Turns out it was as impenetrable as a mountain. Sonic gently twisted his hand in all directions, making sure it still worked. It wasn't broken, but the pain was almost unbearable. Sonic wished it would disappear. He slowly lowered his left arm to his side, and then glared at the wall, which didn't even have a dent. It was mocking him, and that enraged Sonic further.

As if on cue, a section of the wall submerged itself into the ground. Sonic narrowed his eyes suspiciously, knowing Eggman plunged it himself. It was just like him to lead the hedgehog into a trap. Sonic then realized that Eggman must've been watching him this entire time.

_He must be pleased that I can't break his stupid wall down,_ Sonic thought bitterly, rolling his eyes. He knew there was no other way to get in though, so he shrugged and entered the base.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Eggman §<strong>

The evil scientist laughed diabolically as he watched his arch-enemy's vain attempts to get through his barrier.

"There's no use Sonic, you can't destroy my reinforced walls. They're as hard as steel," Eggman stated. He almost died of laughter when Sonic scowled at the wall. "Hm, I guess I should let him in. He won't be able to stop me anyway." Eggman pressed a blue, circular button on his control panel. An area of the wall sank out of sight. Eggman smiled when Sonic stepped into his base. "That's it hedgehog. Fall for my trap."

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic heard the wall arise from the ground behind him, and revert back to its original placement, blocking sunlight from getting through. However, that was the least of his worries. But since no robot appeared, Sonic used this time to check his surroundings. There were doors adjacent to one another on both sides of the pathway he was treading on. The flooring was gray and very dull, a great contrast to the outer design of the base. The ceiling lights radiated blue, unnatural light. It was faint, as if the light bulbs would go out any minute. But they didn't, so it didn't matter. Sonic didn't notice right when he entered the base, but after a few minutes of walking he sighted signs on the doors, telling him what each held inside.

The hedgehog backtracked, reading all the signs carefully, making sure he didn't overlook the control room, because that's possibly where Eggman could be waiting for him. He didn't skip the door, so he picked up the pace, thoroughly scanning all the signs. He was a fast reader, although he hasn't read that many books. He adapted that skill, and mastered it, during one of his runs. He figured it would be useful for times like these, and undeniably it was.

A minute later he arrived at an intersection, a path going right, and one remaining straight, turning left 40 ft. ahead.

Sonic glanced at both paths, wondering which way he should go. His decision was made for him when three robots marched around the corner of the straight hallway. They hadn't spotted him yet, so Sonic sneak-attacked them.

All three exploded into a million pieces, and the little bits of machinery hit the walls with astounding force. Yet somehow Sonic was able to dodge them all (Don't ask me how, better yet, don't ask me how he does anything).

Sonic turned the corner to check out where the robots had departed from. He came to an abrupt halt when he sighted stairs right in front of him.

_I should've figured there'd be more than one floor in this place_, Sonic thought, his eyes flashing with guarded curiosity. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a map of the base. The hedgehog turned towards it enthusiastically, searching for the control room. There it was! On the third floor! He felt the familiar prickle of excitement run through his veins. Now that he knew exactly where to go, he was eager to get going.

Without a single glance back at the way he had come, Sonic dashed up the stairs. A left here, a right there. Forward here, another left, and another staircase, leading up to the third floor.

As Sonic bolted up the stairway, he slightly wondered why there weren't any robots around. It was Eggman's _base_; wouldn't he want some sort of security. The only defense he's seen were those three robots. As if that's enough for a humongous place like this. McDonalds was guarded more attentively than this was! Does Eggman not care about his own fortress? This question, Sonic couldn't answer.

He just kept running straight, waiting for a right turn so he could get to the control room. _Finally_, the blue hedgehog thought impatiently as the door came within his view. It wasn't really a hard room to miss. For one, it was big, circular, and it had its own little side area.

Without a moment's hesitation, Sonic spin dashed the door, breaking it down with practiced ease, his sharp quills able to cut through anything (besides concrete walls).

"You couldn't OPEN the door?" Eggman was definitely waiting for him, and apparently for a long time too. His foot was tapping with annoyance and he had a remote expression on his face. Next to him was a control panel, with a hundred or so buttons on it. On the giant screen hanging from the ceiling were images of what would be from security cameras. "Knowing you, I thought you'd be here sooner."

"Well if I opened the door that would mean acting polite. And why should I have to be refined to you? And I thought I'd check your new place out for a while. There isn't much to see." Sonic countered him promptly. "What I want to know is why there aren't any robots around."

"I don't need any to deal with a rat like you."

"Okay, I've had enough of this! First Erazor Djinn, and now you. I'm NOT a rat!" Sonic shouted. His eyes narrowed to slits and he clenched his fist in fury.

"Whatever," Eggman replied curtly.

"Can't we just fight so we can get this over with already? I've got something I need to do." The hedgehog crossed his arms and started tapping his foot.

"My, my, aren't we impatient?" Eggman asserted, an evil smile spreading across his face.

Too late, Sonic realized he fell in a trap, and before he knew it, Eggman grabbed a remote control out of his pocket and pressed a red button. Before he could do anything about it, Sonic was flung across the room and hit the wall. Then metal latches locked his arms and legs in place. He tried pulling himself out, but they were just too tight.

Eggman was walking towards him slowly. Behind him was a robot, the same one that threw him at the wall. Its head and body were blue and square-shaped. Its arms were made up of tons of missiles, which were very cleverly hidden. Unless you looked closely enough, you wouldn't be able to tell they were missiles. Its legs, gray-colored, just like its arms, moved and functioned incredibly well, and were as agile as real ones. In other words, it was just like a Missile Wrist copy, except it was far stronger than the original.

"So Sonic, what do you think of Missile Wrist 2?" Eggman asked, pleased with the power of his new machine.

"I think you can't come up with any original names," Sonic scoffed, as calm as ever. "By the way, why copy Missile Wrist?"

Eggman muttered something inaudible as he made his way to a giant machine Sonic hadn't noticed until now. It didn't look like any other mechanism he had seen. Sonic wasn't very concerned about its purpose though; Eggman would reveal his entire plan anyway. Funny what you can find out about a person when you fight them for years.

"Well, do you like my Memory Re-setter?" Eggman questioned, nodding his head at the gadget with approval. "It was made possible through my genius, of course!" he gloated.

"Yeah, because you're so smart," Sonic grumbled sarcastically. "Then exactly what does it do, Egg Head?"

"With it, I can control peoples' minds, and make them believe what I want them to." Eggman laughed his signature laugh, the one that makes him sound like an evil version of Santa (BTW I don't believe in Santa).

"A mind control beam? Didn't you already try that once when you built that amusement park?" The hedgehog was not very impressed, though he shouldn't be surprised. After all, Eggman's motto was 'If at first you don't succeed, you do the same thing until it works'.

"Why yes, I did. But this time is different. Instead of using the wisps' power, I'm using the chaos emeralds," Eggman informed him.

Sonic shook his head in disbelief. "Wait. So you're telling me you really got six chaos emeralds?"

Eggman grinned wickedly as he pushed a button on his mind control device. A metallic tray slid out of the machine. Indeed there were six emeralds there, being held in place by display locks. There was an empty space in the middle, waiting for the last chaos emerald. After taking a second to admire them, Eggman pressed the same button, and the tray slid back into the machine.

"Once I acquire the last emerald, I'll be able to trick the entire world to think I'm its leader," Eggman specified steadily.

"Not while I'm alive Eggman," the captured hedgehog protested.

"Oh really, because I have enough power to either control or kill you. So if I were you, I'd zip it," the evil scientist rasped.

"Do your worst Eggman!" Sonic challenged his adversary boldly, not backing out one bit.

"Fine, let's see how well you take this!" Eggman shouted as he grabbed a lever and forced it down. At once, the chaos emeralds started sparking. Sonic knew because he could feel the tension between them, but before he even had a chance to be confused, he felt a terrible pain throughout his slender body, from the tips of his ears down to his feet. He closed his eyes and let out a shout of pure agony.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Eggman §<strong>

Eggman hated to see Sonic in this much pain. It just wasn't in his character to be defeated. As much as Eggman loathed admitting it, he respected the hedgehog, ever since Sonic foiled one of his most brilliant plans. But he knew no matter how resilient Sonic was, he wouldn't be able to stand the pain much longer. Even though Eggman wanted to kill Sonic, he didn't want him to suffer like he was now.

A part of him didn't even want Sonic to die; they would have great allies, if only they had met in different terms. But instead they were enemies in each other's eyes.

But right now, what Eggman really desired was for Sonic to give in, to surrender to the Eggman Empire. Then he could relieve the hedgehog of this torture, being electrocuted to death, by 10,000 watts of electricity, and Eggman could build his dream empire, and take over the world, and everyone would be happy. Well, maybe not everyone.

But even so, Sonic wouldn't resign that easily. Eggman sighed sadly as he observed him grit his teeth and try to endure the pain.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

_Just keep holding on, just keep holding on!_ his mind told him, but by this point, his arms and legs had become numb. He couldn't move them at all, let alone feel them. He grunted with the effort of trying to stay awake. The agony was almost too much to bear.

Then it suddenly stopped, mere seconds before he was going to faint. Sonic panted in silence for a few moments, trying to get some oxygen back into his lungs. He forced his eyes open, still gasping for air. What he saw caused his expression to change from tired to one of pure shock. Eggman was still standing next to the lever, now facing upward, and judging by what had happened, the scientist had stopped the electrocution himself. The room was hushed for several minutes.

"Why'd you do that?" Sonic broke the silence, his voice hoarse.

"I was hoping you'd be willing to surrender to my magnificent empire. Will you?"

"Like I would ever . . ." Sonic trailed off when he felt the chaos emeralds sparking again, and his fur bristled unconsciously. _What's going on? The machine's off_, Sonic wondered, his instinct telling him that something's going to go terribly wrong.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Eggman §<strong>

Since Sonic didn't finish his answer, Eggman wasn't sure if the hedgehog had even cared to answer. He wasn't looking at him, but rather at something behind him, a distant look in his eyes, as if he was deep in thought. How rude of him, not looking at someone when you're talking to them. But still, Eggman followed his gaze to see what had distracted him. It had to be something about his mind control ray, as that's where his gaze led, but he didn't notice anything wrong with it; everything was functioning correctly, just like it's supposed to.

Just then the warning signal went off, loudly alerting everyone that something was wrong. The sudden noise snapped Sonic out of his trance, and he looked around, clearly confused, as Eggman was, of why the signal was going off. He blinked a couple of times, and flattened his ears, as intelligence flooded back into his eyes as if he realized something very important.

Meanwhile Eggman had found out what the problem was.

"Eggman, what's going on?" Eggman didn't answer. His back was turned toward his enemy as his hands rested on the control panel." Tell me now!" Sonic demanded as Eggman hesitated.

"It seems like the chaos emeralds are going all out whack, and they can't control their power," Eggman told him, raising his voice against the chaotic warning signal.

"Why would they do that?" Sonic screamed, fully aware that this was the end.

"I don't know," Eggman said, backing away from the machine and shaking his head. He really regretted not bringing any robots with him. After glancing at his captive briefly, he took off, running at a relatively fast speed, despite his egg-shaped body. He didn't know if he would make it or not, but he was determined to try.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Sonic watched Eggman run off doubtfully. He knew his enemy would be unable to outrun the explosion. He understood that, unlike Eggman, every action has its consequences. This time the price was both the hedgehog and Eggman. At least Sonic would die knowing he had succeeded and fulfilled his duty of getting rid of Dr. Eggman. Too bad he had to get rid of himself at the same time, and had a loud, shrill alert running through his ears as the last sounds he would hear when he was alive.

Sonic stared at the mind control machine, not really seeing it. Instead he saw himself and his friends. He saw Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Chris, and Cosmo, even Shadow and Rouge. But the one that meant the most to him right now lingered in his thoughts longer than the rest put together. Tails. Why did they have to be fighting now? Sonic didn't want to think about it.

Instead, he thought about all the good and bad times they've had together, including his most recent argument with Tails. He recalled all the things his friend had told him.

_How can you even think of stopping Eggman at a time like this, while Cosmo's dead?_

_No, I killed her._

_It is my fault, and everyone knows it._

_You wouldn't know that. Stop acting as if you do._

_You don't know how I feel._

_You don't understand me, you never did. You know what? Just get out._

Sonic sighed miserably, wishing he could at least say goodbye, not that the fox would care. How he had looked and spoke to him made Sonic feel as if he was a stranger, and that he and Tails had never met. Except Tails was nicer than that when they did meet.

He felt the air crackle with tension. Whether it was from the chaos emeralds or his own fear, he didn't know.

He wasn't ready to die. No one would be. He was only 15 in human years. He had more than this to live for. There were still so many things he wanted to try. And who knows, maybe eventually, he would've been ready to give Amy a chance. She had calmed down around him, and was much more attractive that way. But it didn't matter now.

By now, Eggman's machine had caught on fire, yet the emeralds seemed immune to the flames. The fire was spreading around the room, burning everything to a crisp. The flames were getting hazardously close to Sonic, scorching his fur. It was reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to the fire. Sonic was sweating overwhelmingly, and the clamps trapping him started to drip, and they loosened a little. Sonic wriggled his arms and legs, trying to get free, but to no avail.

"Come on! If I'm going to die, get it over with already!" Sonic yelled at the fire, thinking it could hear him. If he had to die, he wanted to go out with a bang, not with a slow painful death. He hated anything slow.

His eyes, which looked red because of the reflection of the fire, let out a few tears. He knew it was over, and that thought caused him to lose all his strength. He cried silently for a few moments, but he paused when he heard a clinking sound. He looked down and saw the light blue chaos emerald, without a single scratch on it. Gazing at it, he felt it wanted to tell him something, but he didn't know what.

Then Sonic's sight went black, as the explosion that he had been waiting for, finally occurred. His last thought had been how he and Tails weren't friends anymore, and how Tails wouldn't care when he found out that Sonic had died.

But little did he know that the fox _did_ care.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep:<strong> By the way, Missile Wrist is from Sonic X, Episode 3. Why did I chose that robot over the other million Eggman has made? I have absolutely no clue.


	8. Chapter 8

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **You all better be happy; I had to actually do research to finish this chapter. Not only that, but this chapter was also a major writer's block trap, and I got caught about a million times.

Anyhow, if there's anything that bothers you, tell me in a review. I don't care if it's minor, as long as it'll improve the quality of the story for you guys. And sorry for the semi-delay; I didn't think it would take two weeks to get an update out.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

In his workshop, Tails was welding his plane back together. He slid out from underneath the X-Cyclone, took his welding mask off, and wiped his forehead.

"Okay, got that done. Now I've just got to finish the wings and the X-Cyclone will be ready to fly again." _And not crash-land every ten seconds, _Tails added jokingly, feeling pleased that he had gotten everything fixed so quickly. It had taken him only two days, when it usually took him a week. Tails pondered on how he completed his plane in such a short amount of time, especially with the state he was in. Perhaps he was trying to redeem himself for acting like a lazy, grief-stricken zombie for a week, or maybe he was rushing because he felt guilty that he let Sonic go to Eggman's base alone. Who knows?

Tails flinched rapidly away from the plane as he recalled that. He had almost forgotten about the danger Sonic was getting himself into. It was true that he had tried to forget about Eggman, and he must've been focused on working he had succeeded. His first day working on the plane had been completely the opposite. His mind had been constantly battling itself, sometimes ordering Tails to finish the plane already, and at other times telling him to ignore the plane, and just fly to the island, using his twin tails. But since he'd get there faster using the X-Cyclone, he listened to the rational portion of his mind.

Deciding he had to concentrate on the task at hand, Tails snapped himself out of his troublesome thoughts. He looked back at the plane's wings, mentally noting what parts he needed. _Okay, so, 8 sheets of metal, 16 hexagonal bolts, 16 hexagonal nuts, and 16 washers_ (Not the kind you wash clothes with). _I'll also need my Makita Cordless Driver Drill, _he evaluated.

He turned away from the plane and walked toward the far wall of his workshop. A pegboard was hung up on the wall, holding up bins filled with different bolts and nuts, and other types of materials. He picked out what was essential, and grabbed his driver, then proceeded to pick up the metal. He stared confusedly at the empty spot they used to occupy. He growled in frustration at not having any metal, and presumed he'd have to hit the hardware store in Sienna City, the closest city to Tails' house. Tails had no idea why it was named that, since sienna was the name of a color, but he guessed it had something to do with the magnificent architecture. Then there's its nickname 'Moonlit City', because it's said that the moon always shines there, whether the skies were cloudy, or clear.

Not caring about the origin of the city's name, Tails sighed impatiently; he wanted to help Sonic before anything bad happened.

_Oh, who am I kidding?_ Tails asked himself sadly. _If nothing transpired, then surely Sonic would've visited me by now? Unless he hates me, or thinks I hate him._ It was highly probable, since Tails had practically spit venom at Sonic during their last conversation. When this popped into Tails head, he felt an increased sense of urgency. Before heading out to Sienna City, he rummaged through his entire workshop in a vain attempt to find any metal. When Tails finally admitted defeat, he wasted no time in bolting out of the workshop, shutting the door on his way out. He leaped into the air, and twirled his namesakes, steadily gaining speed. As he kept flying, he was gradually closing the distance between himself and the city. When he reached Sienna City's outskirts, he dropped to the ground, landing gracefully.

Since it was nearly 11 p.m., most people were inside their homes, mothers putting their children to bed, students rushing to get their homework done before their parents caught them, and fathers watching T.V. to unwind after a busy day at work. And in those few homes, grandparents complain like there's no tomorrow.

Spotting his desired store, he looked for the most convenient route. After choosing which path to take, Tails raced off into the city, unwilling to waste any more time. He kept going straight, ignoring all the side paths he could follow. It was hard to resist exploring though; the shadows tempted him, as if there were some mysterious force trying to pull him in. The reason he longed to check the place out was because he never really goes sight-seeing. He normally goes there to either get supplies from the store he was going to now, grocery shopping, and to occasionally grab a bite to eat when he didn't feel like cooking. Realizing this, Tails slowed down a little, and looked around. His gaze lit up with awe as he sighted a fountain, about 30 ft. high, presenting an array of colors and lights. As Tails walked closer, he gasped in amazement. He knew this was the famous Magic Fountain. It was known for its incredible game of color, light, movement, and water acrobatics. Tails was transfixed by its beauty, wishing he had a camera.

"Why, hello Tails. Fancy meeting you here," a voice from somewhere behind Tails greeted him.

He turned around, surprised anyone would be up at this hour, fountain or no fountain. He was even more shocked when he recognized the man's voice as Professor Pickle.

"Professor Pickle, what are you doing out here?" Tails asked, wondering what was so important that the professor had to go look at a fountain.

"I thought I'd take a stroll around the town, and get a few cucumber sandwiches," he informed the inquisitive fox, taking a bite of one of his sandwiches. He chewed slowly, savoring the sweet flavor. He then waved his sandwich in the air, and declared, "It's the perfect sandwich. The bread is ¾ of an inch thick, and it has a tablespoon of mayonnaise and a pinch of black pepper. The cucumber is also fresh and thinly sliced. There's nothing better."

"Yeah. Right Professor," Tails agreed awkwardly. He preferred chili-dogs over cucumber sandwiches any day, which was probably a habit he picked up from hanging out with Sonic constantly, since they were the hedgehog's favorite food.

"But what are you doing here? I haven't seen you since the Dark Gaia incident."

"I'm here to get supplies for the X-Cyclone," Tails answered, hoping for an opening to leave, but he was relieved to get off the subject of cucumbers.

"I see. Then what has Sonic been up to lately?" the professor questioned.

Tails hesitated, clearly reluctant of telling anybody about the current situation he was in, nor did he want anyone to find out about his argument with Sonic.

"Nothing much. Just defeating Eggman like always," he replied shakily.

_If you call going off on a suicide mission 'Nothing',_ Tails added silently. He could feel his left hand twitching, and he cursed under his breath. He wasn't a very good liar, though it wasn't entirely a lie.

"Hm," Professor Pickle murmured suspiciously, hearing the tremble in Tails' voice. He assumed Tails was hiding something, but he didn't push the young fox. He wouldn't force Tails to tell him something if he didn't want to.

"Tails, I'd best be going now. It was nice talking to you," Professor Pickle said as he departed, waving his free hand in farewell.

Tails stood there in silence until the professor turned around the corner. He let out the breath he'd been holding as a sigh of relief, and started making his way to the hardware store, leaving the fountain behind.

Along the way he had a few unexpected conversations with some old friends. Each conversation started in turn with small talk. But sooner or later his friends would ask him where he was going, then progressing to ask him how Sonic was. And unlike Professor Pickle, they would try to persuade him to tell them what the problem was. To the now very impatient and worried fox, their questions seemed endless. Tails still answered them regardless of how repetitive they seemed. He knew he'd eventually find a way to squirm his way out of the conversation.

It was 11:30 p.m. by the time he got away from the last person. He'd roll his eyes when their back was turned, trying to guess why they were aimlessly walking around the city, when most stores and restaurants were closed. It's not like Tails didn't enjoy their company, it's just wasn't the right time to chat. And again he tried to get to his destination without being interrupted .

At long last Tails glimpsed the hardware store.

_Thank God! They're not closed yet,_ Tails realized gratefully when he saw that the open sign was still lit up. He ran the rest of the way, stopping when he reached the door. He grasped the handle and pulled the door open. At once he was surrounded by bright light. Tails blinked until he got used to the glare, and looked around the store. It was smaller than other hardware stores, as it had only the bare necessities, like your basic tools and supplies, including sheets of metal.

Except for the manager, no one was in the store, which wasn't very surprising, considering the time. The manager, lounging behind the check-out counter, reading a book, was well over six feet tall, and very muscular, resembling a professional football player. But he wasn't scary or mean. Besides managing a store, his skills in carpentry were second to none. Well, maybe second to Tails. And judging by the way his dark brown eyes skimmed the pages of his book, he had decent reading capabilities, and a wide vocabulary. Tails wondered vaguely why the store was still open though.

He looked up, startled, when he heard the door chime, indicating that a customer was entering the store. When he saw Tails, he picked up a bookmark, used it to mark his spot, and placed it next to the cash register.

"Tails, what are you doing here? Don't you know what time it is?" he questioned, pointing at the clock. It was now 12 a.m.

"of course I do, Scott. I just dropped by so I could get a part I need," Tails answered, feeling déjà vu from all his earlier conversations that night. But unlike the others, Tails knew, Scott wouldn't ask in any way, shape, or form, about Sonic. He, like many other people, believed Sonic was near impossible to beat. And Sonic never shopped there anyway. So why would he ask?

"Well, what's this part you need?" Scott asked Tails curiously.

"I need metal, sheets of metal to be more precise," Tails responded promptly, secretly hoping that the manager didn't think he was crazy for getting metal this early in the morning, when he should've been asleep hours ago.

Scott's eyes narrowed incredibly, trying to understand why Tails needed metal _now_. But, nonetheless, he stood up and stretched. He grabbed a silver key out of the front pocket of his jeans, and began walking to the back of the store, gesturing to Tails to follow him. Scott led him through the middle isle, inspecting his stock with a satisfied expression. Tails also studied the various supplies, and realized Scott must've gotten his hands on some brand new tools: hammers, which have the amazing ability to '_supposedly'_ be lighter than other ones though they're the same size, and packs of screwdrivers, which are _'said' _to be more durable than your average screwdriver, were stacked neatly on the shelves. Tails chuckled softly at the companies' stupidity; why do they lie about their products when no one ever believes them?

He kept his gaze straight ahead, so his wandering eyes wouldn't spot anything that would peak his interest; he had barely enough money for metal, even at its lowest price.

When they arrived at the supply room door, Scott inserted the key and unlocked it. The storage space was pitch black. No matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn't see anything. Scott stepped in and flipped the light switch up. Tails blinked, surprised that the supply room was over twice the size of the store. The store's outer appearance was definitely deceiving, all right. What shocked Tails the most was by how cluttered it was; there were stacks of boxes everywhere, piled up so high you needed a ladder to get to them. There was also a second floor, but Tails didn't feel like exploring. But just because it was big didn't mean it was remarkable. The only colors you could identify in there were a variety of shades of brown, gray, white, and black. If it weren't for the brown, one could say it was like those old cartoon shows, the ones with no color. It reminded Tails of a factory, fore it even had a conveyer belt, leading to who knows where. Speaking of which, where did it come from?

"Wait here. I'll be back in few minutes," Scott ordered, veering off to the right of the storeroom.

Now realizing how tired his legs were after a hard day of working Tails flopped down on a floor, leaning against the wall for support, appreciating a few moments of relaxation. Glancing back at the storeroom, the fox cocked his head to the side, wondering how Scott could possibly remember where everything was located, and how to navigate through that mess.

His mind drifted off to thoughts of Cosmo and how he spent a week doing anything. He couldn't even remember if he had slept or eaten.

_When Sonic came over, I must've looked like a mess,_ Tails joked to himself. He still couldn't stop thinking how Sonic was in danger, and how he could do nothing to help into the X-Cyclone was fixed.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep:<strong> I have nothing to say, except that the fountain earlier mentioned in the chapter is supposed to look like Magic Fountain of Montjuic, if any of you were wondering where I got that from.


	9. Chapter 9

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **I don't like writer's block. That much can be said.

_sagapaga:_ I'm glad that you're still interested in the story.

_unknownman55: _Doubting my skills come naturally, so what can I say? But in order to make an account you go to the 'Sign up' button in the top right corner, and the rest should be self-explanatory.

_Ghostkid33: _Thanks, but whenever I get past writer's block, it always comes back for more.

_sonictailsbros: _I can't believe this is one of your favorite stories, out of all the better ones on this site. And, I hope this was soon enough for you.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Eggman §<strong>

The base was completely destroyed; piles of debris were all that was left of the once-great fortress. The walls had collapsed, the doors blown to smithereens.

The only thing that survived the massive explosion's wrath was Eggman's Egg -O-Matic, rolled pitifully on its side. From the inside, Eggman groaned in pain. He had barely made it to his flying sanctuary before the explosion occurred. The force of it caused the Egg-O-Matic to crash through several walls, knocking Eggman out in the process.

Out of Eggman's tired eyes, he spotted two blurred shapes running towards him.

For a split second, he thought it may have been Sonic, but, remembering the past events, quickly thought otherwise.

_Sonic wouldn't have lived that explosion. He was right next to it, with no way to defend himself._

But before Eggman got a chance to feel triumph or grief, he blacked out again.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Scott's boots pounding on the cold concrete floor of the storeroom. Tails glanced up, immediately seeing that his hands were full of metal.

"Is this enough for you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, that's more than enough. Thanks," Tails answered, standing up and reaching up to grab the metal so Scott wouldn't have to carry it. But the manager refused, lifting his load out of Tails' range. Tails looked at him confusedly in response.

"I can carry this just fine, no need to be polite," Scott clarified, heading back to the check-out counter before Tails could protest.

Tails, not about to be left behind, ran to catch up with him, one of his tails knocking a box of nails down onto the floor. Skidding to a stop, Tails hastily picked it up and placed it back onto the shelf. Then he attempted to catch up with Scott again, only to have the box fall again.

"REALLY?" Tails hissed as he turned around. This time when he set the box back, he waited for a few seconds, ensuring himself that it wouldn't fall again. Then he returned to the check-out counter. He noticed that Scott had resumed to his book. Without looking up he said, "That'll be $13.91."

_Well, so much for that extra two dollars,_ Tails thought as he regretfully pulled fifteen dollars out of his wallet, mentally noting that he needed to go to the bank soon. He handed his money to Scott while he put his wallet back into his invisible pocket. Scott took his cash and efficiently exchanged it for his change.

"I assume you don't want your receipt?" Scott inquired, giving Tails his supplies.

"How'd you guess?" Tails asked curiously.

"Because no one ever wants them," Scott answered lightheartedly.

Tails chuckled softly, realizing Scott's attitude was similar to a certain hedgehog he knew. He, like Sonic, was never serious, and preferred to make a joke out of everything to lighten the mood, no matter the situation.

Remembering the reason he came to get supplies in the first place, he glanced at the clock to check the time.

_12:30__ALREADY?_ _How did I spend thirty minutes here?_ Tails contemplated on the past procedures, hoping that Scott's clock was wrong. _First I came here, and then Scott went into the storeroom to get the metal. And how long could that have taken?_

"Hey, Scott, how long did it take to get the metal?" Tails queried, his voice distant, backing out towards the door.

"I don't know. About twenty minutes, I suppose. Why?"

"No reason, I just wanted to know. But I've got to get going now, so I'll see you later," Tails replied abruptly as he left, leaving Scott to stare at the departing fox intriguingly.

He sprinted back the way he had come, ignoring the few questioning gazes directed at him. He knew people were wondering why he was up, let alone why he was in such a rush. They would think he was crazy, but he didn't care what they thought. It's not like they would actually remember this out of all important things to remember. They might not even be able to tell it was Tails anyway, since it was nearly pitch black outside. But maybe his two tails would give it away. But it still didn't matter if they thought he was a lunatic. He was a hero, and that's what counts.

Tails still found it ironic that he had hardly done anything to be considered a hero, yet he became one on his first time helping Sonic. Yet people didn't deem the speedy hedgehog as a hero until he saved the world. Unfair much?

After six minutes of running, his arms and legs were awfully tired; metal weighs more than it looks. Setting the metal down on the sidewalk, he gave his tired limbs a rest.

Flopping down on the curb, feeling exhausted, his mind started wandering and before he knew it, he started daydreaming about Cosmo. How she had encouraged Tails to keep going as captain of the Blue Typhoon, even after he made a terrible mistake, and how she had planned a party and tried to prepare it herself. He remembered how they met, when she crashed on Mobius to look for Sonic. She had been so negative back then, blaming herself whenever anything bad happened, and apologizing for things that weren't her fault.

He was startled out of his reverie when a limo splashed a five foot wall of water on him, completely soaking him. He jumped up in anger, furious at the driver. But then he felt confused. When did it start raining? And why didn't that snap him out of his daydream.

It was raining extremely hard, so that the entire street was flooded. Tails sighed in defeat as he once again realized he was fantasizing again, therefore wasting time and allowing the merciless rain to drench both the metal and fox.

_I've got to stop getting so distracted. _Looking down at his sodden fur, he reflected that the limo driver didn't do much harm, considering he had already gotten quite a soaking from the rain. _But, still, they could've gone to the other side of the street. But the real question is what they're doing driving around in the rain right now? There's almost nothing open._

Tails picked up his supplies and sprinted away, attempting to prevent the metal from getting any wetter, not that it mattered. In another seven minutes he reached his house. Gasping in relief, he opened his door with his free hand and darted inside. He slammed the door close and slumped down onto the floor, catching his breath after his run.

Spotting trash on his coffee table, he stood up, ignoring the screaming protests from his legs. Getting closer to the table he realized it was the same letter Eggman gave Sonic, a reminder of why he needed to fix the X-Cyclone.

Tails glanced outside to see that it was still raining severely. He contemplated if it would be better just to stay inside for a while, or try to work on the plane. In the end he decided to let the storm blow over. He stretched out on his couch, constantly moving to get into a comfortable position, though nothing helped. Tails grabbed his T.V. remote and surfed the channels , not finding anything interesting; all that was on T.V. at this hour were comedies, which were the complete opposite of funny.

"Oh well," Tails muttered ruefully. With nothing better to do, he resorted to staring out at the rain. He liked the rain. It created a sense of peace and gave Tails time to think when it came. It just was thunder and lightning he didn't like.

_What does Knuckles do when it rains like this? _Tails always asked himself this question whenever it rained. Knuckles is a red echidna, and guardian to the Master Emerald, the most powerful of all the emeralds. His descendants had watched over it before their tribe got destroyed, and gave Knuckles his duty, and he had sworn to protect it for as long as he could remember. He didn't know much about his past though, so no one else did either. Tails had met him when he had accused Sonic and Tails of trying to steal the Master Emerald. He had been tricked by Eggman, and was too gullible to believe he had been lying. But no matter how trusting he was, Knuckles was a good fighter, almost as good as Sonic. His short temper and Sonic's taunts usually led to fights, which, thankfully, always got interrupted.

Tails' eyes were drooping with tiredness, and his aching bones got wearier as each minute passed, so he gave in to the rest sleep would give him.

* * *

><p><strong>Dream<strong>

* * *

><p>Tails opened his eyes and found himself in the captain's seat of the Blue Typhoon. He cocked his head to one side, wondering what was going on. But when he spotted a familiar person, someone he's been longing to talk to since she left him, he instantly jumped up from his seat and ran up to join her.<p>

"Hello, Tails," she greeted him in her gentle voice when he got within hearing rage.

"Hi, Cosmo. It's great to see you," Tails said enthusiastically, just wanting to stay in that spot forever and just chat with her. It had to be more than a crush, right?

"It's nice to see you too Tails. But I hope you know this is a dream," she stated, her gaze meeting the floor, not wanting to meet Tails'. "You do, right?" Cosmo asked, her eyes lighting up with worry and hope.

"Yes, I know Cosmo. I just wish it wasn't," Tails murmured quietly, his tails drooping so that they touched the floor. Why did she have to be dead?

"Don't be sad Tails. I don't want you to feel responsible for my death. It's not your fault!"

Tails looked up at this. "I know. It's just at times, it feels like it. If I hadn't –"

"Tails, stop doing this to yourself," Cosmo insisted, while placing her hand on his shoulder in an act of comfort. Her touch felt real, so why couldn't she be real?

Seeing how determined Cosmo was caused Tails to give in. "Alright," he said, "but I still miss you." She smiled, longing and wisdom shining in her gentle gaze.

"I miss you too Tails. And I'll wait for you, so just live out your life, alright?"

"Okay, Cosmo, I will," Tails promised, now understanding the true meaning of Sonic's words when he said to move on. Moving on wasn't the same as forgetting. "I love you, Cosmo. And I'll wait for you too."

"I love you too Tails, and never forget that," Cosmo whispered passionately as she faded away.

* * *

><p><strong>End of Dream<strong>

* * *

><p>By the time Tails woke up, the sun was up in the sky, tempting birds to come out after the terrible weather. Feeling energized and optimistic from meeting up with Cosmo again, Tails jumped up from the couch, positive that he could finish up the plane and save Sonic. So, seizing the metal, he hurried over to his workshop.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep:** Okay, nothing much to say about this chapter. But I do want to ask you guys, or girls, a question. Since you can't find anything wrong with my story, can you tell me what you like most about it? And, for seven of you, why you faved and/or put it on story alert? That way I can improve.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

"There, all finished!" Tails exclaimed, standing up to inspect the plane. He had fixed it up, and shined it up to the point where he could see his reflection perfectly on its metallic surface. The X-Cyclone's outer covering was glinting with the rays of the sun. But, though extremely shiny, hadn't drastically changed; the only major differences were that the engine had been revamped to go faster, and that it was a lot more durable. So now, without a Chaos Emerald, it can still transform into Battle Armor Mode.

So, without any hesitation, Tails jumped into the cockpit and buckled himself in. But in his haste, he forgot on minor detail; that he couldn't get out of the workshop. Tails took off his seatbelt, hopped out the plane, and flipped up a switch on the wall. The garage door in the back of the workshop started folding up and rose to the ceiling. Outside, a runway was waiting for the plane to make its take-off. Palm trees were on both sides of it, swaying with the flow of the breeze. Tails had placed them there as a reminder of everyone in Chris's world, and everyone who helped them during their stay there.

Tails returned to the plane and situated himself in the pilot's seat, arranging his tails so that he could sit in a more comfortable position. Has eyes were pricked, and his eyes burned with a fierce determination.

He ignited the engine, giving a slight nod of satisfaction when he heard the low purr, sounding smoother than he thought it'd be. The plane jerked slightly as it picked up speed, its wheels gliding easily on the asphalt. Tails tilted back on the controls while accelerating and the plane shot off into the sky.

He made a 180° turn toward Sea Cove Island and stabilized the plane. He recalled the directions in his head, determining how fast he should go and how much distance he had to cover, as not to miss the base. Once he had figured out all the statistics, he took his chance to check out the scenery below him. Tails had always thought everything looked prettier with a bird's eye view, the reason he loved to fly so much, with his tails or plane. Right now he was directly above the Segovia Plains. Since it was evening he could spot a pack of gray wolves hunting deer. Their sneaky nature allowed them to get within striking distance of their prey. And one bite was all it took to kill the helpless creature.

Tails felt bad for the deer, though he knew that was how the food chain worked. If the wolves could survive without killing and feasting on weaker animals, they would. But everyone needs to eat, so there was nothing Tails could do to help. Besides, he didn't have time. He didn't practically tear the X-Cyclone apart and put it back together just to watch Sonic get hurt. That's why he finished so quickly. Going to the base was the only way Tails could assure himself that was Sonic was safe. Tails hoped that his friend was avoiding him; no matter how mad Tails had been, he'd never wish to have Sonic injured. He'd never want anyone to suffer any pain. Except for the Metarex and anyone who tries to kill his friends.

Another reason Tails valued flying was because it was like an escape from his worries. He treasured it almost as much as Sonic cherished his running. He just relished the sensation of soaring miles above the ground, gliding next to the clouds, close enough to touch them. You felt as if you were at the top of the world, like no one could touch you. And mastering tricks in the X-Cyclone gave Tails a sense of pride, knowing he did it all on his own.

_I'm glad I'm a pilot,_ Tails thought as he remembered when he had first executed a barrel roll, the exhilaration restoring his energy. He didn't know how he learned to fly in the first the first place. He couldn't remember how he learned how he learned half the stuff he knew since he forgot most of his past-life. But he had always had a passion for flying ever since he could use his tails to hover, yet another reason people made fun of him.

He always wondered why he knew so many things when he couldn't recall where or how he learned them. Sonic never taught him how to fly the plane, Tails already knew how, though the hedgehog had been slightly reluctant to let him fly his plane. And nobody, at least no one he could remember, had taught him math and science. It's like he was born with all that knowledge. Maybe he was. But still, you wouldn't think an eight year old would know how to solve geometry and biology questions, much less knew how to fly.

But he didn't question it. He figured himself lucky since he was the smartest person he knew. And whenever he and his friends had a problem with Eggman and needed to come up with a plan, Tails would be the one to think of the best option. To him, nothing was better than being trusted. He wanted to be counted on, to show that he can help, no matter the situation. He always impressed everyone by his various inventions, and their praise made Tails feel like he was needed, and had a purpose, something that Tails never had before he met Sonic.

Looking down, he spotted a massive forest, the same one on the map, and it was the largest forest he had ever seen. Keeping on hand on the controls Tails pulled the map out, curious at what its name was.

_No name? No one knows about it?! Wow. That's sad, considering its size. And yet, Eggman knows about it. Or maybe it just doesn't have a name. _Tails knew it didn't matter, but he figured he might as well pass the time since nothing interesting was happening.

Bored out of his mind, Tails decided to try a new trick, called the death spiral. Even though the name sounds intimidating, it's not hard to perform if you know what to do. Ascending higher into the sky, he dove down, twisting the controls to the far right, resulting in the plane looping on its side. Then Tails straightened the controls and the plane shot off with greater speed gained from the momentum of the trick. So no time was wasted.

Ten minutes later he was out over the Atlantic Ocean. From his vantage point, Tails could barely see Sea Cove Island, fore it was only a speck of brown in the distance, the size of an ant.

But he understood that it was bigger than it seemed, as most people would, and that it would gradually grow in size as he got closer.

In the meantime, Tails questioned why Eggman chose to put his base on an island. After all, if a gigantic wave or hurricane hits the island, that base is as good as flooded, as well as Eggman himself. But then Tails contemplated that that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, considering all of Eggman's past plans to rule the world and create the Eggman Empire, or Eggmanland, or whatever he calls it. But he still didn't understand this new plot. The one question that kept running through Tails' mind was '_Why would Eggman tell Sonic exactly where his new_ base is located? _Does he want it to be demolished?' _

Tails knew Eggman was as intelligent as he was, maybe even more so. And you don't just tell your enemy where your base is. Unless you want to get destroyed, that is. It's a suicide attempt, especially if your enemy is the one who has foiled all your other schemes. And that's where overconfident villains fail, when they're sure their plan is full-proof, and they reveal all their weaknesses. It doesn't matter who you are, you don't tell somebody how to beat you! Everybody knows that! Unless you're invincible, which nobody is, you don't uncover your weakness.

Then again, Eggman has never been one to use his head, and often makes mistakes. He's never really came close to conquering the planet, although there have been a few close calls. He's come closer to actually destroying the world rather than taking control over it, like the incidents with Dark Gaia and the Ark. And even if he didn't harm the planet, he blew up half the moon, and then lied about fixing it, when it was really just a scheme to control people's minds. But he had hid his treachery well, and seemed so sincere about it, that everyone had been fooled, at least everyone except for Sonic.

Tails didn't know how he had thought that Eggman was turning over a new leaf, and sometimes thought he was becoming as gullible as Knuckles.

Since Tails had been practically daydreaming again, he hadn't realized he had gotten so close to the island. He couldn't see the base though. All he saw were the shredded remains of it, and automatically assumed that it had somehow exploded. The plane descended, coming to a gentle landing next to giant pile of metal, and he gazed at all that was left of the base. Tails knew Sonic wouldn't have done anything this serious. Metal was everywhere. Nothing had been spared. Tails didn't know how many rooms there had been, or how many floors, but if he was right, and an explosion had occurred, everything and everyone would've gotten annihilated.

He was proven wrong though, however, as he heard faint voices from the distance. They sounded familiar to him, but he was unable to decipher who they were. He transformed the X-Cyclone to its walking form, and explored around to figure out who the voices were.

A few minutes later, he came to a dead halt when he saw something he wasn't expecting; Decoe and Bocoe speaking to Eggman, who was _alive?_

Tails blinked a few times to ensure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and when that didn't work, he pinched his right arm as hard, and as with much force, as he could to make sure it wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't and Tails wished he hadn't pinched himself, fore now it really hurt. He complained under his breath about his stupidity.

They hadn't realized he was there and continued their quiet conversation. Tails climbed out of his plane and walked over to them, examining their condition.

Eggman, though alive, was in horrible shape; he was panting, his breaths shallow, and his voice raspy when he spoke. He was leaning against his Egg-O-Matic as if he would fall over without its support. However, Decoe and Bocoe looked just fine, the way they always do.

Though Tails couldn't exactly make out their words, he thought he heard the two robots questioning Eggman about what had happened.

_I guess that means they weren't here when whatever happened, happened. That explains why they're in perfect condition. _

Tails coughed loudly to get their attention. When they saw him, Decoe and Bocoe jumped away from him, surprised that someone had been eavesdropping on them. Eggman grunted in shock, but did not question why Tails was there.

"Tails, it's a surprise to see you here. But what are you doing here?" he said in between coughs. Decoe and Bocoe kneeled beside him, unable to do anything to help.

"What happened here Eggman? Why is your base destroyed? How did get it get destroyed?" In his haste to find answers, the fox couldn't stop the questions from flooding out.

"You don't answer a question with another question, but if you must know, my newest invention exploded." He answered, slightly raising his eyebrow.

_So it was an explosion!_ Tails wasn't surprised, since he had already suspected that. "But how did it happen?" he prompted Eggman.

"The power of my six Chaos Emeralds was too much to handle for it. Therefore it exploded," he explained, his voice strained.

"Then where were you guys?" Tails asked Decoe and Bocoe, who had gotten over their shock.

"We were getting food," Decoe replied, gesturing to the bags of groceries behind him.

"So the base exploded, Eggman's machine, whatever it was, blew up, and he is somehow alright," Tails concluded, still a little confused at the last part.

"Well, the reason I'm fine is because I am a genius!" he claimed, regaining some of his authority, and refusing to be insulted by a fox.

"But, boss, I thought you said that the way you survived was by getting into the Egg-O-Matic," Bocoe said, while Tails smiled inwardly at the robot's stupidity.

"Yeah, and you said without it you would've been dead meat," Decoe added.

While face-palming, Eggman struggled to stand up, but managed to do so with the support of his machine. "You don't tell your enemies that!" he hissed at his two minions, who shrunk away from him with fear.

"Eggman, where's Sonic?" Tails asked hesitantly, interrupting the robots' scolding, while his tails twitched nervously behind him.

Eggman shook his head and sighed. Looking directly into Tails' eyes he said, "I'm not sure if he made it or not. It's highly improbable that he didn't, since he was at the very heart of the explosion."

That was all it took for Tails' blood to run ice cold and his heart to freeze in fear. He knew that what Eggman was saying made sense. He just didn't want to believe him. Why should he? Eggman rarely told the truth anyway. But something in Tails' mind told him that the evil madman was right and being honest for once.

"No, I don't believe you. He has to be alright, he has to be!" Tails argued quietly, backing away from his adversaries and running back to his plane. He scrambled into the pilot's seat and turned the X-Cyclone in the opposite direction to check the base one last time, while Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe gazed at him sympathetically.

No matter where he searched, he saw no sign of Sonic anywhere, which was a good sign, or at least he thought so.

_I'll keep looking for ten more minutes, then I'll go search some of his favorite places,_ Tails thought to himself after five minutes of looking. Lucky for him, he knew some of Sonic's favorite places to relax, run, and explore. For relaxing, he usually went to the plains, or a peaceful place. For running, it depended on if he wanted a challenge or not. If he wanted a challenge, he would run through forests and mountains, because they have rough terrain and obstacles. If he wanted an easy run, he would simply race through plains and grasslands, nice, smooth land.

Tails hoped that was the case, that Sonic had been avoiding him, waiting for him to cool down from their recent argument. But he couldn't be completely sure. After all Sonic was nearly impossible to predict. He always surprised you, but Tails wasn't complaining. Surprise is a great weapon in a battle. If Sonic started becoming predictable, that would make fighting Eggman a lot tougher, as he would be able to guess Sonic's every move.

But that instinct is the very reason Sonic liked to risk his life a lot. And you never expect him to, so you can't stop him before he nearly kills himself.

Sometimes Tails wished he wasn't so reckless. But he can't help it. No one can. It's just how Sonic operates. He likes danger and does everything in his power to be put in treacherous situations. He never risks anyone else's life though, only his. If someone could get hurt, Sonic would think twice about any move he made, cautious not to harm anyone. Yet he was fine with putting his own life in danger.

That's one of the many things about the risky hedgehog Tails didn't understand about him. He knew risking your own life for another was what heroes did, but you don't do it 24/7. Or do you?

Sure, Tails was a hero in many peoples' eyes, but he never risked his life for someone he didn't know. He's only done it for his friends, so he could never exactly comprehend why Sonic would do it for complete strangers.

Tails sighed as he wondered if he would ever fully understand Sonic. He knew more about Sonic than anyone else ever did, yet that's about half of who Sonic was. It was because he was so mysterious and hardly showed his true feelings, similar to Shadow in that perspective.

When it was on the verge of ten minutes, the sun had already set, making it almost impossible to see. Not that there'd be anything to see anyway; no one was there. Surely Tails would've heard something if Sonic was there, right? And all he could hear were the heavy steps of the X-Cyclone as it trudged through the remains of the base, crushing metal under its feet.

Just as Tails was about to give up, he spotted a flash of blue. Not believing his eyes, he scrambled out of his plane, taking a closer look, when he didn't really didn't want to, afraid of what he might see.

_His_ ears were nicked, caked with dried blood, his left leg crushed under some broken cement, and scratches and blood all over his body. A deep scratch ran across his torso. His eyes were closed and his head lolled limply to the side.

Tails choked back a cry of horror, his eyes unnaturally bright with fear. He closed them, willing this all to be a nightmare and wanting to wake up from it. It wasn't just a nightmare.

Tails' legs felt like they had been glued to the floor, with no way to move them. Not that Tails wanted to move an inch closer anyway, fore he had never seen _him_ look so hurt and broken.

Tails forced his legs to move forward with great effort. And, step by step, he was standing right next to him, the one laying on the floor, helpless, defenseless, and gravely injured.

Tails knelt down, and put his hand on Sonic's shoulder, holding his breath, waiting for a response. Nothing.

Tails shook him a little, willing for him to move, to open his eyes, to talk, to do anything. Anything to give him a sign that his best friend was still . . .

Tears threatening to pour out of his eyes, Tails felt for a pulse, not expecting anything, and about to collapse and start crying.

Then the sides of Tails' mouth perked up a little as he felt one. Unable to believe it Tails placed his ear on Sonic's chest, not caring about the blood, hearing a heartbeat. Tails breathed out a sigh of relief as he raised his head up. Now he noticed Sonic's faint and shallow breaths.

He may have been breathing, but he was still incredibly weak. Tails knew this, but he was too relieved that Sonic was alive to take this into consideration.

Tails shook him again, more roughly, thankful when Sonic's ears twitched slightly and he opened his eyes a little, looking around in pain.

"Sonic," Tails whispered, as not to startle him.

When Sonic's gaze fell on Tails, he flinched away, wincing at the sudden movement.

"Sonic, you shouldn't do that!" Tails commanded urgently, fearing for Sonic's life.

The way Sonic looked at him made him freeze; Sonic's gaze was full distrust and fear. Whether it was genuine or not, Tails couldn't tell. "Why do you care?" he asked softly.

"Sonic, I'm your best friend, and I know this about our fight, but I never meant a single word of it! I never wanted this to happen! I know it was wrong of me to do what I did, and I wish I could take it back! Please believe me. I need to help you," Tails begged, hoping Sonic would forgive him. He didn't want his best friend to never trust him.

"What if I don't need any help?" he asked, turning his head away from Tails to glare in the opposite direction. "And even if I did, it wouldn't matter."

"Of course it matters. Nobody wants you to die," Tails countered, a pleading tone in his voice. If he had to, he could just knock Sonic out, treat his injuries, then attempt to make up with him, but he didn't want to hurt him more than he already was.

"You do."

"No, I don't, Sonic. I'm your friend. Why would I want you to die? Just give me one reason. I was just mad about before. I didn't mean anything I said. And even if you don't forgive me, just let me help you, and then I'll leave you alone forever, I swear." And Tails was telling the truth. Sonic was his friend, and even if he never talked to Sonic ever again, he would always be, no matter what the hurt hedgehog thought.

Sonic was silent for a long time, his coughing the only sound breaking the silence. Tails watched him sympathetically, unable to do anything to help without any medical supplies, except let his friend know he was there to comfort him.

After a long period of thinking, Sonic looked at Tails directly in his eyes, and said, "Tails, I'm sorry if I made you think I don't care about Cosmo. I do. I never wanted you to forget her either, so I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. And I understand what you mean now. So do forgive me?"

"Yes, Tails, I forgive you," Sonic said, the suspicion in his eyes replaced by affection and trust. He slightly grinned, despite hurting more than he ever has.

Tails smiled back at him, grateful that he finally got his big brother back. It faltered when Sonic sighed and fainted. Tails, worried more now than ever, started to think of plans to get Sonic out of there and get him some help.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep: <strong>There, now you know he's alive. Happy? You people know who you are, so I'm not going to name any names. *Cough * _Metalshadow1909, sagapaga, sonictailsbros, and Ghostkid33 _*Cough* Yeah, totally not going to name any names.

Either way, the story's still not over, so read the next part if you have that much patience.


	11. Chapter 11

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **I see most of you are GLAD that Sonic's alive, but I didn't say he would stay alive, did I? *Smiles evilly** * **And being the devil I am, I'm not telling you anything.

_sonictailsbros_: Believe it or not, I actually suspected _unknownman55 _was you_. _I just didn't want to make myself look like an idiot just in case I was wrong. And I guess my answer came a little too late, huh?

_sagapaga_: I read your review for my poem, and I don't understand it, and I like Dark Sonic. But did you like it, or hate it?

_Metalshadow1909: _You're back! I thought you forgot all about me!

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

Everything burned. Every movement he made, his limbs screamed at him in agonizing protest. Every time he opened or closed his eyes, he felt a throbbing sensation. Every breath he made, it felt like he was inhaling mouthfuls of water. He felt as if were sinking into molten lava, the hot, thick liquid closing over his head and cutting off his air supply.

Seeing Tails smile at him lightened the pain, even if only a little. Sonic was both grateful and ashamed, relieved that Tails forgave him, even going as far to apologize himself, but he wished the fox hadn't seen how vulnerable he was at the moment.

Not able to stand the unbearable suffering any longer, Sonic felt himself slip into the verge of unconsciousness.

Sonic could dimly feel Tails, or who he assumed to be Tails, shaking him roughly, begging for him to wake up, but no matter how much the fox pleaded, Sonic simply didn't have enough strength or energy to respond to Tails' requests. Instead, he let his mind give in to the tempting darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

Giving up on waking his exhausted friend, who probably needed rest more than anything, Tails stopped shaking him. He was still extremely worried for Sonic's safety, fearing every other breath may be his last.

Pushing these unsettling thoughts out of his mind, Tails started to relieve Sonic of the weight implemented on him from the cement and other various debris.

As Tails was dragging cement and debris off of Sonic, he contemplated on what to do.

He was no doctor, so he couldn't do anything to help Sonic. If he tried, chances are he'd just make things worse.

Even Vanilla's, Cream's mother, healing expertise wouldn't be enough. Besides, Vanilla wasn't really available right at that moment. She, Cream, and Amy, a pink hedgehog and Sonic's self-appointed girlfriend, took a trip to Adabat, and wouldn't be back for a month.

And hospitals weren't exactly a reliable option either. Doctors work on human patients, not hedgehogs. Since they don't understand the body structure of a hedgehog, they wouldn't be able to do squat anyway. They could possibly wing it and hope for the best. But Tails didn't want to risk it, though he knew Sonic would gladly have chanced it if he was awake.

A vet wouldn't be able to assist either. They help animals, but not hedgehogs. Their patients are usually domestic pets, such as dogs or cats.

After he had hauled the last of the cement and metal off of Sonic, he inspected the base, wary of robots just in case the doctor wanted to pull a fast one on Tails while Sonic was vulnerable. There were none to be seen, and Tails visibly relaxed.

Looking at the damage the explosion caused, he wondered how Sonic could have possibly survived in the first place. Tails knew he was resilient, but not enough to handle an explosion. _Well, he must've been if he survived,_ Tails reflected. It's not that he wanted Sonic to be dead or anything. He was just surprised.

Sonic can last through a lot, but he has never been caught in an explosion. So, for him to survive against the odds, even though he barely survived, shocked Tails. But it was just like Sonic to go against the odds. And he always came through, and always beat them. Even if it was a million to one chance he wouldn't live, he would always be fine in the end.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Eggman §<strong>

Eggman, flying in his Egg-O-Matic, was scouring the base in hope of finding any surviving robots and other valuable parts he could still use to build another base, one that was not as susceptible to explosions as this one was, hopefully.

He had sent Decoe and Bocoe for the same task, only in the opposite direction he was heading in.

He didn't expect any of his robots to be in one piece, however, but he might as well scrounge around in the base for _something _he could use.

But it probably would have been easier on the evil scientist on his short mission if he had a reliable source of light. The only thing lighting up his path was the full moon, shining brightly in the clear sky. But it didn't help much. His eyesight was pretty good, but human eyes aren't meant to be able to see in pitch black darkness. If you took Sonic's vision, divided it by two, you would get Eggman's vision. Yeah, the glasses he wears don't help his sight whatsoever. But they do have other uses, such as locating the Chaos Emeralds.

_Out of all the weapons I have in this machine, why don't I have headlights? _Eggman asked himself irritably, then reconsidered. _Maybe I do. _Halting his Egg-O-Matic, he then started messing around with the controls, scavenging for some sort of light.

_Let's try this one,_ he directed himself, pressing a button on the far left, confident that it wasn't a deadly weapon, but useful nonetheless.

But all he could do is stare, dumbfounded, at a cup holder as it slid into his view, a bottle of water waiting in its grasp.

"Really? I've had this the entire time and forgot about it? Forget the lights, this is ten times better," Eggman rejoiced, grabbing the water bottle and raising it up to his parched lips, drinking a few sips gratefully. Water really tasted good when you're tired, hungry, and thirsty.

_I wonder how it had stayed cold for all these years, _Eggman questioned. Unless he had installed a mini-fridge in the Egg-O-Matic, there was no other possible way.

Completely forgetting about the utter darkness surrounding him, and enthusiastic at a possible chance of getting food, Eggman tested his controls again, now searching for both the headlights he claimed to have installed and a fridge he suddenly believed to be in there. He was imagining himself already eating a foot-long sandwich, with juicy tomatoes, lettuce, ham, and turkey, on Italian bread, the biggest hamburger you can imagine, and a rich, scrumptious chocolate cake for dessert. Though we all know he doesn't need the extra calories and could stand to lay off a few pounds. He understood this too, but food was just too tempting for him to resist.

After five minutes of testing random buttons, his machine pulling out various weapons, transforming and distorting into strange appearances at a remarkably fast pace, and causing a fair amount of noise, he finally gave up and sighed regretfully. He had really been looking forward to that chocolate cake, even if it was just a crumb. He'd eat anything that was edible and non-poisonous, just to get some food down his throat. His stomach growled in agreement.

He ignited the engine again, its roar ringing through the empty air, and set off on his way once more. His machine advanced onward, hovering a safe distance above the ground, careful of hitting anything, yet at the same time, low enough to the ground so that Eggman would spot any possible robots that might come his way.

After a few minutes of progressing forward, Eggman's gaze fell on a small sphere and cube, both half buried under the wreckage. The spherical figure was half red, half black, while the top half of the cube was yellow and the bottom half black.

Eggman landed the Egg-O-Matic, climbed out, and kneeled down, picking up the sphere first.

_They must have switched into shut down mode to avoid any damage the explosion would have caused, _he mused. _Of course THEY would be explosion-proof, while my base is practically defenseless. I really should have thought that out more, _Eggman thought, aggravated at himself, as he searched for the reset button he had installed on the robot. He found it and pressed it, and set the robot back on the ground.

Almost immediately, the two different-colored halves of the sphere separated and robot unfolded itself, not yet fully functional. It was searching its data banks to recall what had happened, while Eggman moved onto the next robot, and repeated the same process. The cube divided into its respective halves, and the robot became visible. It cocked its head to the side as it examined its surroundings,

These two were Orbot and Cubot, robots designed by Eggman. Orbot was the spherical shaped robot, the smarter of two, and noticeably the more helpful one. Cubot, the cube-shaped robot, was not as bright as Orbot, but he tries. They both were loyal to Eggman, but they've both had their fair share of taunting him, telling him his plans wouldn't work and that he always gets defeated by Sonic. And Eggman proved them both right.

Orbot was created first, before Eggman had set his sights on harnessing Dark Gaia's power. He usually points out Eggman's mistakes and often somewhat insults him because of them. His main function is to be simply for relaying information to Dr. Eggman and making sure the processes of his plans are carried out correctly. His eye of efficiency is what allows him to constantly criticize Eggman or inadvertently point out his flaws, however. He is very insensitive and doesn't skip out on the chance to be critical to the doctor and his feelings when he sees fit, though he does not mean to insult his master, just trying to give him constructive criticism, for that is what he was programed to do, though all it does is just makes things worse. Although, occasionally, he does enjoy giving a sarcastic remark to Eggman.

He had been originally white and back, his eyes a glowing pink, but when Eggman remolded him, he got his white coloring switched to red, pink eyes switching to white. He also got a new voice as well.

Cubot was created as Eggman initiated his plan to conquer the universe when he built that interstellar amusement park. Cubot had been invented for the purpose of catching wisps and cleaning up destroyed robots with Orbot after Sonic trashed them. He didn't enjoy working that much, which often led him to make mistakes. He was also evidently a lot more talkative than Orbot, and instead of criticizing Eggman like Orbot, he just liked to bug his master.

He had had problems with his voice chip when Eggman had first insisted on changing it. He had gone through three different voices and accents, the first one being that of a cowboy, the second a pirate, and the third a Brooklyn mobster accent. Each voice and accent seemed to have changed his personality as well though. He finally got his original voice back (Which, in my opinion, is the most annoying out of all of them. My personal favorite had been the last one), with Orbot's help, that is.

"Boss, the base exploded, didn't it?" Orbot inquired dryly, relaxing on his side the same way Sonic does, and prepared himself to give Eggman another lecture discussing his mistakes.

"What do you think?" Eggman mumbled sarcastically, regretting ever building a robot that was programmed to point out his faults. "It definitely looks more 'exotic' now, doesn't it?"

"I'll say," Cubot interrupted, dense as ever.

Both Eggman and Orbot face-palmed, understanding that the cubed robot was hopeless at common sense, Eggman wishing he had gave Cubot at least half the intelligence his companion possessed. But then he'd have two derisive robots mocking him, complete opposites of Decoe and Bocoe. Even if they insulted him behind his back, at least they didn't openly say it to his face in a scornful manner.

"But one good thing may have come out of this," Orbot thought aloud, staring out in the distance.

"Hmm . . ." Eggman eyed his surroundings, trying to look on the bright side of things, and comprehend what Orbot was talking about. He couldn't find any possible outcomes of this. His base has been shattered like glass, he had lost a fortune, and will now have to pay more money to get more supplies to repair everything. So, to him, nothing had been gained.

Orbot, seeing how Eggman didn't understand what he meant, attempted to get his point across. "Look at it this way; Sonic's gone," he explained.

Eggman felt torn in half as the robot finished his statement. A part of him felt triumphant, dominant, that he had finally defeated his archenemy, while the other half felt nothing but the raw grief at Sonic's death that hadn't quite settled in yet. He was glad, however, knowing that the explosion would've ended the hedgehog's life before he had felt any real pain.

But he also knew taking over the world and constructing Eggmanland wouldn't be nearly as thrilling as it would've been if he had an opponent to go against him. A challenge. Sure, he still had Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow to deal with, but his toughest, and not to mention first, adversary has always been Sonic.

But he couldn't reveal this to his two mechanical assistants. Orbot would probably call him a hypocrite for wishing he had his enemy back, and Cubot would just point out, once again, that with Sonic around, he had never accomplished anything, and that he never won.

Besides, without Sonic, he could finally make his dream come true, so it would be well worth it in the end. The good outweighed the bad, in other terms.

Pushing his remorse to the back of his mind, Eggman halfheartedly agreed. "Yes. I suppose you're right. Though I still don't understand how my base exploded. Everything was functioning perfectly."

"Yeah, I mean, I connected the blue wire to the red one just like you told me, and it still blew up," Cubot put in, running away from them to check out what remained of the base, for he was always eager to look at stuff, no matter what is.

Eggman started nodding, but stopped abruptly as his mind registered Cubot's words. He turned on the idiotic robot, anger practically steaming out of his ears, and bared his teeth. "You IDIOT! You were supposed to connect the blue wire to the BLUE!" he yelled, chasing the robot, though, after realizing he was in danger, Cubot easily out sped the his master and even putting some distance in between them.

Orbot sighed and decided to wait for them to lose their energy and tire out instead of trying to stop them. While the other two were running around in circles, Eggman swearing he was going to kill Cubot once he got his hands on him, Orbot took this chance to relax. And, sure enough, a few minutes later, the doctor, weakened from thirst and starvation, slowed to a stop, panting heavily, ad sauntered slowly over to the Egg-O-Matic. He reached in for the still half-full water bottle and drank the rest of it, fighting to get his breath back as well as his authority.

Cubot also stopped running and made his way over to Orbot and laid down beside him. Orbot gave a hopeless shake of his head, and the other robot shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Come on, let's get back to Decoe and Bocoe, and discuss what we're going to do," Eggman ordered, climbing unsteadily into his Egg-O-Matic and igniting the engine. Orbot and Cubot jumped in just at the last moment as it hovered away.

"So they returned from grocery shopping? Did they happen to get any oil?" Orbot questioned inquisitively. "I'm running pretty low here."

"How should I know?" Eggman snapped, gradually growing impatient as exhaustion and hunger shortened his temper fuse. That water was enough to quench his thirst for now, until he had a chance to drink anything else.

Cubot started jumping up and down, much to Eggman's irritation. His imbalanced weight bounced the Egg-O-Matic vertically. "Well, where are they? I don't see them, unless they're invisible! Hey, why don't you give us abilities like that? I bet they'd be useful! And I –"

Cubot's endless chattering ceased as Eggman harshly slapped him, leaving his robotic body, not built to take physical attacks, a great contrast to Sonic's, vibrated violently for a few moments more.

"Does it look like they're here?" Eggman asked sarcastically, gesturing around them, aggravation getting the better of him.

Cubot chewed on that for a minute, while the three of them sat in silence. "Is that supposed to be a trick question?"

Eggman sighed in exasperation and face-palmed. "This is going to be a long night."

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails § <strong>

Now that he had gotten everything off of Sonic, Tails inspected his friend a little more closely, concern shining in his eyes.

It was painfully easy to see that Sonic's chest had taken most of the punishment. The lengthy cut across his torso was still bleeding severely, though the rest of his wounds covering the rest of his body had receded to small, weak trickles of blood, steadily forming a pool of the thick, red liquid on the ground.

Tails had gotten some on him, staining his fur and gloves, but that matter was trivial compared to Sonic's safety.

Tails ran through his options through his mind, contemplating which was the best choice.

_I guess the hospital is my best bet_, Tails admitted to himself, still uncomfortable at the thought of putting his best friend's life in someone else's hands, but yet, at the same time, still willing to do so if it was the only way.

Tails felt a cold breeze whip his fur around and he hugged his body, enduring the harsh wind as it raced by him, until the air grew calm once more.

But the chilling feeling Tails received from it, as well as the scent of smoke and fire it brought with it, stayed with him, and he started shivering self-consciously, instinct taking over.

His throat and nostrils burned from the smell of smoke and fire, and he started coughing.

As he was coughing, clouds slowly covered the moon, throwing darkness over the island, and icy raindrops fell onto the ground below, cleansing the air. The rain was gentle as it drenched Tails fur and he didn't mind it, he actually was enjoying it. He also noticed that it was rinsing the blood off Sonic's fur, making him look healthier, and washing it away.

Tails stood up and stretched, the muscles that had become stiff from kneeling down loosening once more.

He then picked Sonic up bridal style, (And no, they're NOT gay!) the fallen hedgehog, unconscious, not resisting. Tails supported the hero by his knees and neck, his legs and head falling limp in Tails' arms.

Tails carried him back to the X-Cyclone, his ears twitching in surprise; Sonic was lighter than he had originally thought. Sure, Tails could openly admit that a lot of other things weighed less, but, still, considering all the chili-dogs and junk food he eats, you'd think he weighed two hundred pounds.

But Tails still struggled carrying him though. He wasn't physically built like Sonic, or, most notably, Knuckles. He prefers to allow his machines do the combat, but them alone makes up more than enough for it.

Finally making it to the X-Cyclone, Tails gently set Sonic down on the ground and climbed into his plane. He lowered it down closer to the ground using the controls, and scrambled back out.

With the X-Cyclone in a lower position, he was able to lift Sonic into the passenger seat, behind the pilot's seat.

He strapped Sonic in, gazing at him with a worried expression, and jumped into his own seat.

He hit the 'Flight Mode' button on the X-Cyclone's control panel, and the wheels slid out and landed on the ground while the X-Cyclone's legs folded back in. The wings of the plane twisted and reverted back to their original place.

Tails tilted the controls forward and turned as his plane slowly picked up speed. He drove his plane along the path that had the least amount of debris covering the ground.

As the plane took off, the wheels folded back in as well, with Tails thinking about which hospital was the nearest one, while Sonic was off far away in dreamland, albeit it may be a nightmare.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep:<strong> That was an abrupt ending. Oh well. I just wanted to publish what I had done, since I didn't have much time to write today. Yeah, I slept in later than I usually do, and had tons of homework. But at least I got to go ice skating, which was pretty fun.

Seriously, though, there was so much Eggman, but I had fun writing it though.


	12. Chapter 12

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters

**Smokestep:** Nothing much to say about this chapter. But I'm still going to respond to reviews, which is most likely going to be on all my stories with more than one chapter.

_sagapaga:_ Okay, so what I'm getting is that you like Dark Sonic, but you think I don't like him. But I do, okay. Got it? Good. I don't think he's evil when he's in that form. I think he's just more susceptible to kill somebody if they get on his nerves, like the time he nearly killed the Black Narcissus. He would've if Eggman hadn't appeared out of nowhere. But I'm glad someone likes my horrendous poetry skills. And why wouldn't I make Eggman suffer? It's fun!

_Metalshadow1909:_ Isn't that the reason why everyone kills him off?

_sonictailsbros:_ Orbot and Cubot are my favorite robots too. They are A LOT more tolerable than Scratch and Grounder. Decoe and Bocoe aren't bad, but I prefer Orbot and Cubot. Doesn't Eggman have another pair of minions? I feel like I'm forgetting someone. And I don't know how I knew that you were unknownman55. I just had a feeling that that was true, and I just don't know why.

_Ghostkid33:_ Yeah, that, and he's fun to write about. Hardly anyone writes about Eggman in his point of view. I just don't get it; it's just so much fun! I'm glad I was able to entertain you with Orbot and Cubot's lines. I tried my best to keep them in character. I can never nail that down. And I do get compliments time to time from people, telling me that I'm pretty funny, though all I do is use sarcasm. I don't really use jokes. I just say a comment, and people tell me I'm hilarious, and I don't get it.

* * *

><p>The rain pelted the X-Cyclone's windows as the plane was piloted through the storm. Tails confidently led it to its destination; he had learned long ago how to navigate an aircraft through a storm easily. And with his exceptional eyesight, he could clearly through the storm and direct correctly through it, so the darkness and rainy chaos surrounding him didn't bother him.<p>

Now, if it had started thundering and lightening, he'd have to land. It'd be too risky to keep flying in that weather. The X-Cyclone may be sturdy, but it wasn't completely resilient, and could crash if struck by lightning. Not to mention the fact that he was scared of thunder.

Every time it stormed, and thunder was involved, Tails would freak out. And Sonic was the one who would normally calm him down, but, in an unconscious state, was in no position to do now.

Besides, the young pilot didn't need calming down now. When Tails has an important job to do, he knew he didn't have time to be scared, and threw away his fright as if it was nothing. So, that anxiety was replaced with a burning determination as fiery as Sonic's, and he put all his focus on the challenge.

Tails always had had that passion and motivation, and it really showed in times of crisis, like the situation he was in right now.

_Nearest hospital, nearest hospital,_ were the words that kept repeating in Tails' mind. _Where's the nearest hospital?_ he questioned himself frantically to himself, though his exterior expression showed not one trace of panic.

Next, he started naming off random cities in Spagonia. _Soleanna, no. Sienna City, no! Jakarta City, maybe . . . wait, no! That's in Adabat, where Vanilla, Cream, and Amy went._

Then a light bulb flickered on somewhere in Tails' head as he found the answer to his predicament.

_Segovia City Hospital, I'm on my way!_ Tails thought spiritedly as he made a sharp turn to the left toward the Segovia Plains and, far beyond them, Segovia City. But it would take a good chunk of time to get to the city, precisely a half hour, as they would also have to pass through the Segovia Canyons as well, a rough borderline between the plains and the outskirts of the city.

The wind changed direction as it battled against the X-Cyclone, threatening to throw it off balance and send it careening down into the ocean below.

But Tails' plane advanced forward relentlessly and beat the wind current, and was now miles above the sea, flying through the stormy weather.

Tails could hear a faint booming sound coming from far away, and he recognized that noise almost as easily as he recognized his own voice. It was thundering, and wherever thunder appeared, lightening was following not far behind.

Tails silently willed the X-Cyclone to go faster, though he knew his plane was flying at full speed already. He just hoped they made it to the shore before they got struck by lightning.

However, in a few minutes, the ominous roaring ceased, causing Tails to let out a sigh of relief.

So, despite having reached land, the X-Cyclone continued its flight, with a serious fox content that they were safe, if only for a little while.

As they flew over the dark forest Tails had seen once before, the rain eased up a bit and a small ray of moonlight shone through its protective raincloud barrier.

All of a sudden the X-Cyclone's radar started beeping spasmodically. Tails' head sharply snapped toward it, his heart heavy with anxiety; something was following them, something he couldn't identify, which worried Tails more. His advanced radar could normally distinguish _anything. _When it didn't, it unnerved its creator, who built it to be able to classify anything.

Tails shook his head distractedly and decided to ignore it for now, for there was no 'shut up' option, something that Tails regretted not installing earlier and vowed to put one in after this entire thing was over. But Tails would take action if the thing, whatever it was, dared to show itself. Or, maybe, it might be a coward and run away.

But after ten minutes had passed, his ears soon began to blur out the radar's annoying beeping, until it become one with the wind he could hear outside of his protective shield, the wind that Sonic could so clearly feel when he was running or sitting down on the plane's wing, somehow keeping his balance, and not falling off.

After they passed the forest and were flying over the plains, he soon forgot about their stalker, for it hadn't caused an interference yet. But Tails still felt as if someone's gaze was directed on him as he piloted the plane, even though he hadn't seen anybody or anything, just the scenery of plains and canyons and clouds.

Tails' stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn't ate since two in the afternoon. Tails checked his wristwatch, which also functioned as a communicator, for the time. It was now two in the morning, a full twelve hours after his last meal, give or take a couple of minutes. Not that Tails would be able to eat anything anyway. His stomach felt hollow and empty, gripped with hunger pains, but his throat felt tight with worry.

Tails lowered his hand back down to grip the controls and sighed. He felt as if a thousand pounds were on his back. Sonic's life was in his hands, that much he knew. He could finally be the hero he wanted to be. But he never knew how stressing it was, grasping that any wrong move he made could cost someone their life.

His ears had been pricked back toward his friend the entire flight, picking up his shallow breaths that let Tails know he was still alive and breathing.

The Segovia Canyons that had seemed so diminutive a short while ago now rose up around the X-Cyclone as it navigated through them. But at least it meant they were close to their destination.

But soon after they entered the narrow passages, Tails heard the crumbling of rocks on the horizon, and checked his radar to see if anyone was causing the canyon to fall apart. Sure enough, it was the same stalker from earlier. Tails could tell because it couldn't be identified. His eyes narrowed in anger; whatever they wanted with him was fine since he could beat them, but attacking a canyon that had nothing to do with it was a little extreme.

Suddenly, the image of their follower in the radar got faster and started coming closer to them. The sound of rocks falling was also getting closer as well.

The old feeling of anxiety and fear started sinking into his heart again. He turned around to see if he could spot their fast approaching enemy, but he saw nothing.

Instead, boulders showered down on them from above, hitting the X-Cyclone's wings and body, one even bouncing off Tails window, causing the fox pilot to jump in his seat.

The force of the boulders sent the plane plummeting down toward the sharp ground below.

Tails shook his head and regained his posture, tilting up on the controls, praying that they'd make it under his breath.

Luck seemed to be on their side as the aircraft ascended into the air once more. If they had gone down a mere two more feet, it would've ended right then and there.

From behind the X-Cyclone, a missile was being shot towards the canyon's walls, the wall bursting into flames as a brief explosion occurred, and breaking off pieces of rocks and sending them flying in the direction of the plane. Tails expertly dodged the largest of them to avoid any major harm.

A second missile was fired at the opposite wall, causing another explosion and catching the X-Cyclone and blowing it back towards their adversary.

That short-lived blast woke Sonic up from his rest, and he looked at his surrounds, the confusion clear, and winced at the pain triggered by his wounds.

"What happened? And how did I get into the X-Cyclone?" he asked bewilderedly, his voice barely over a whisper.

"Well, in order, you passed out, and I carried you," Tails answered, still dodging boulders with sharp turns as the eruptions continued.

"You did?" he murmured appreciatively, and then he noticed the numerous bits of rock flying out at them. "Wait, then, what's happening now?"

"We're being attacked from behind, by something that's been following us for a good half hour!"

Sonic struggled to turn his head and shoulders, including his unresponsive right arm, around with the jerky motions, but finally managed to do so. After he spotted their attacker, he mumbled something inaudible over the madness taking place around them.

"What did you say?" Tails shouted, hoping the weakened hedgehog heard him.

"It's him," Sonic repeated fiercely.

"Huh? Who?" Tails questioned, intent on getting some clue to help him beat whatever this rampaging thing was.

**§ Sonic §**

Sonic wasn't listening to his pilot. Instead he was focusing on what he was looking at. He would recognize their adversary from anywhere, for it was someone he'd been hoping to get revenge on.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep: <strong>I think I have finally figured out what my problem is. It's the dialogue between characters. It's too rushed. Like in Tails' dream from chapter nine, when Tails and Cosmo were talking to each other. That just felt too fast and I definitely could've done something better with that. I am definitely going to improve that from now on. Hopefully this chapter perfected it a little.

Sorry this is such a short chapter. I wanted to get it out by Thanksgiving. This is my gift to you all, so you guys better be grateful. And I didn't want you guys to wait for another week to get a chapter out.

So, hopefully, next chapter will be longer.

Also, who do you think the person shooting at Sonic and Tails is? This is another reason why I cut it off so early, to hear your answers. So if you review, tell me who you think it is. Adios, peoples!


	13. Chapter 13

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep:** Wow, no one could guess who their attacker was. And, frankly, I'm quite surprised. I have included like, what, sixteen named characters into my story so far. And about thirteen of them wouldn't even make sense. But let's do a quick re-cap, shall we.

**Sonic and Tails:** DEFINITELY NOT! They're the ones being attacked, so it can't be them.

**Amy, Cream, Knuckles, and Vanilla:** We're not going there. One, they're Sonic and Tails' friends, and two, they can't shoot missiles out of their bodies.

**Professor Pickle and Scott(Hardware Store Manager): **Do I even need to explain this?

**Eggman, Orbot, Cubot, Decoe, and Bocoe:** They're off doing who knows what.

**Shadow and the Metarex: **Why would Sonic want to get revenge on them? Tails might, but Sonic really doesn't care about them.

With them out of the options, there's only one choice left, one that no one even considered. I'm betting that when you find out who it was, you'll be like "Oh my god! Why didn't I guess it was him? That question was so easy, and I couldn't even guess who it was!" You'll say something along those lines, I presume.

_sagapaga: _Don't worry. I get misunderstandings at school all the time, and this one was easier to clear up than others. Yeah, Dark Sonic is awesome. He really needs to be in a game, and I think a majority of people think that Dark Sonic would win in a fight between him and Super Sonic, but I'm not so sure. But he still is one of my favorite forms for Sonic. Though there are only five forms of Sonic that are canon in my eyes, and they are Super, Dark, Werehog, Darkspine, and Excalibur. I don't really care for the other forms. And I love your new profile picture!

_Thomas Holmes II: _Your review came at an incredibly random time. I'm glad it was touching, though it barely _had any dialogue! _I'm still trying to get better at that. Yeah, but no one really cares that Sonic and Tails made up. As long as Sonic's alive, they're happy. At least until I come up with a way to kill him.

* * *

><p>"Who's <em>him<em>?" Sonic heard Tails behind him ask in a strained voice.

"One of Eggman's new toys, and about to be added to the junk pile," he answered shakily, then started coughing, muttering curses at his damaged left arm. His answer to Tails' question would've sounded more like a menacing taunt, rather than a feeble reply, if he wasn't so lacking in strength at the moment.

The robot fired another rocket at the canyon's sturdy walls, blasting boulders in every direction. Sonic paid no attention to the blasts that came one after the other, nor did he care about the blood trickling from his wounds onto his seat, or his lifeless arm. His softly glowing emerald eyes never left the gleaming mechanic demeanor of the robot, a cocky grin on his face, despite his condition.

". . . IT IS A ROBOT RIGHT?" Tails screamed irritably at him, trying to get Sonic's attention. The young fox had been talking while Sonic was in his own little world, and the sound of the numerous explosions was still ringing in Sonic's ears, so there was no possible way he could have heard his pilot.

Sonic cleared his throat before he answered, and then winced at the slight pain the action caused. "Yes, it's a robot, and a fairly new one, too. I ran into it at Eggman's base before the fortress exploded." He said cautiously, careful not to anger Tails further. _But I don't know how it survived the blast._

"Do you know –" Tails broke off as he, yet again, had to dodge a missile. "Okay, we've got to get out of here, and get somewhere we can fight back."

Sonic coughed a few times, causing Tails to cringe at how weak his hero was, before he responded. "I agree. Our best bet is going up, though."

"I know," Tails snapped, and Sonic flinched, remembering their fight. Tails must have noticed this, for he also added, "Sorry for yelling. I just got a lot on my mind, that's all. I don't want to start up our fight again, okay."

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean it," Sonic lied, regaining his posture.

"Yeah, right," Tails grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, fine, I may have taken it a little personally, but that's not of our main concern as of right now, thank you very much."

"Stop trying to sound professional, it doesn't make you seem any smarter, you know," Tails teased, chuckling a little.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"'That's _not of our concern as of right now_.' Wouldn't it have been easier just to say that's not our main concern right now?"

"Well, _sorry_.I wasn't trying to 'sound professional', and I resent that remark. And I _am _smart, Tails, maybe not as smart as you, but I'm still smart," Sonic replied in a mock-pouty voice. "And don't we have a robot to stop?"

"Yeah, you're right," Tails conceded, piloting the X-Cyclone up higher in the sky, above the Segovia Canyons, something he should've done long ago.

The robot fired yet another missile at them, and fired up his rocket boosters to high, and it shot up higher in the sky as well.

Tails turned his plane around to face their rampaging foe, and once he got a good look at the robot, he grunted in surprise.

"You know, that robot looks familiar," he noted matter-of-factly as he examined the robot's outer design.

"That's because you've seen it before," Sonic panted from behind him, sounding breathless, which alarmed Tails.

"Are you okay?" Tails asked worriedly, a frown upon his face, and concern shining in his eyes.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me," he insisted, his voice a little stronger, desperate to make sure Tails didn't fret over him. Although his voice was shaky, it was reassuring.

"If you're sure," Tails muttered hesitantly.

"I'm positive, Tails," Sonic assured him, then added, "But don't you recognize it?"

"The robot?" Tails guessed, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "I feel like I've seen it before, but I can't recall when or where I saw it."

"Does the name 'Missile Wrist' ring a bell?"

Tails chewed on that for a moment, and then his orange, well-groomed ears perked up knowingly. "I remember Missile Wrist. But this can't possibly be the same robot, can it?" Tails asked as he stared down the robot that seemed to be waiting for him to make a move.

"Well, not exactly. This is a copy of Missile Wrist. Eggman redesigned it, so this model is faster and stronger than the other one." Sonic then smirked, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "And you'll never guess what its name is."

"Oh, let me guess, Missile Wrist?" Tails answered mockingly.

"Close, but no cigar."

"You know I don't smoke."

"I know, and neither do I." Sonic sighed exasperatedly and shook his head. "It's just an expression, Tails."

"Not that it matters, but what _is _its name?" Tails asked as he pressed a few buttons on the X-Cyclone's control panel, making a few preparations for the upcoming battle.

"Missile Wrist 2," Sonic responded promptly, his bright green orbs sparkling playfully.

"That name's extremely original," Tails said skeptically.

"That's what I said. But, hey, you can always count on Eggman to come up with the most creative names ever," the blue hedgehog remarked sarcastically.

**§ Tails §**

Tails didn't reply, but instead wondered how Sonic could be so lighthearted when he was severely hurt, but didn't question his friend's behavior. Sonic would just deny being hurt and feeling any pain anyway. Besides, he preferred a positive and cocky Sonic over a serious one anyway. The day when the impatient hedgehog acts serious is the day when the world ends.

"How much stronger and faster did Eggman make this robot?" Tails asked slowly, glancing back at Sonic, anxiety clear in his eyes.

"Well, it was fast enough to strike me from behind, and that blow was strong enough that I smashed into a wall. Then I got trapped when Eggman latched me onto the wall," he admitted in a furious undertone, while Tails' eyes grew wide with horror. If Sonic said Missile Wrist 2 was strong, how would they defeat him?

"Well, we can defeat it by –" Tails started, only to be interrupted by a certain impatient hedgehog.

"Tails, can you open this window?"

"Why?" Tails demanded.

"Just because."

"I don't think it's safe while we're flying. And I'm not opening it until you tell me why."

**§ Sonic §**

"Please just do it Tails," Sonic pleaded, his entire body, excluding his arm, itching to do something.

"No, not until you tell me why. Last time I did that, Cosmo jumped out," his friend responded stubbornly.

"Yeah, but she was fine in the end, and so will I," he replied with equal determination, his eyes directed on the robot, his right fist clenching in fury.

"Sonic, don't tell me you want to fight Missile Wrist 2?" Tails exclaimed horrifically. Sonic didn't respond, and that was a good enough answer for Tails.

**§ Missile Wrist 2 §** (Yes, I'm really going into the point of view of a robot.)

Hovering about twenty feet away from the heroic duo, the robot could do nothing but stare at Sonic and Tails through its beady, impassive eyes. He didn't know whether to attack or not.

"I thought we were in the middle of the battle," Missile Wrist called out to his opponents, who didn't seem to hear him. They appeared to be in their own little world, completely ignoring him. To Missile Wrist, it looked as though they were discussing something, albeit irritably, but they were talking too quietly for his sensory processors to pick up.

As he continued to watch the two-tailed fox and blue hedgehog fight, his adversaries _he_ had been sent to kill, his robotic mind couldn't compute why they were somewhat arguing. According to Eggman, his master, they hardly ever opposed each other.

"Fighting does not compute," he muttered in a stereotypical robot voice. "You're supposed to be fighting me, not each other," he continued, though Sonic and Tails neither heard him, nor cared, for they were too busy disputing.

"This is boring." Usually robots couldn't feel any emotions, such as boredom, happiness, or anger. But Eggman, for some reason, installed emotions into his most recent designs. Of course Sonic and Tails thought he was just a killing machine, but he actually possessed feelings and beliefs.

But it was only to a degree. If Eggman allowed free thoughts to roam in his minions' minds, they could revolt against him in the future.

"Why is this taking so long?" the robot wondered, gazing at his supposed opponents, that is if they would truly fight him eventually.

**§ Sonic §**

"No, Sonic, I'm not letting you do that. That's suicide!"

"No, it's not!" Sonic protested hotly. "You know as well as I do that I can beat it!"

Tails sighed, probably wondering on how to reason with the furious cobalt hedgehog. "Sonic . . . you're bleeding to death," he stated simply, yet gently, a trace of worry apparent in his voice.

"And ?"

"So you're telling me you don't feel at all dizzy from the major blood loss?" Tails said skeptically, but with the same concerned tone of before.

Truth be told, Sonic did feel dizzy and lightheaded, maybe even a little nauseous, but he wouldn't say that to Tails, or anyone for that matter. He wouldn't even admit it to himself. His pride and dignity and honor wouldn't let him, but he could feel the sting from his wounds as clearly as he could feel the blood percolating through his fur. And thanks to the blood loss, the edges of his sight had already started fading to black, and everything, even his own hand, looked blurry. The only thing he _couldn't_ feel was his left arm, hanging limply by his his right leg _did _feel a bit numb. But his arm was his most serious and severe injury.

"Why won't you let me fight him?" Sonic demanded, his voice faltering on the last few words.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt, or at least anymore hurt than you already are now. I've already lost Cosmo; I don't want to lose you too, Sonic! You're the closest thing to family I've ever had! And I'm not going to let you kill yourself like this!"

"What about your _real _family?" Sonic murmured, confusion clear in his shaky voice. "Surely you feel closer to them than to me, a run-down hedgehog?" he continued bitterly.

"Sonic, don't say that about yourself! You're the strongest and kindest person I've ever met!" Tails protested loyally, defending the hedgehog against his own accusations.

Sonic laughed a little, which in turn caused him to cough up some blood. After a few moments and regaining his posture, he shook his head slowly. "Really, Tails? Because, if you ask me, you're far more strong and generous than I am."

**§ Tails §**

"What do you mean?" Tails queried confusedly.

"I'll tell you after we defeat Missile Wrist," an amused Sonic replied, leaning back against the seat, and letting out a sigh.

"Alright, but I'm still not letting you fight him," Tails stated seriously.

Sonic didn't reply, or if he did, Tails didn't hear him, but the fox swore that he heard muffled grunt coming from the hedgehog. The pilot instead focused on his robotic opponent, Missile Wrist 2, who had been hovering in place silently this entire time.

To Tails, it looked no tougher than the original, yet Sonic said it had been improved in both strength and speed. But the fact that it was fast surprised Tails the most.

If Sonic, _the_ _fastest thing alive_, claimed it was quick, it must be true, however unbelievable it seemed, since it seems more power-based instead of speed-based.

"Don't let its appearance fool you, Tails," Sonic advised truthfully, immediately recognizing the reason for the fox's hesitation. "Though it may look like it's designed specifically for strength, it has great acceleration as well."

"I know, but you haven't seen yet what the new and improved X-Cyclone can do," Tails told him calmly, smiling confidently. He increased the plane's speed and leaned forward on the yoke (Steering wheel for a plane), and the X-Cyclone shot off toward the waiting robot.

When it saw they were making a move, Missile Wrist 2 kicked it up a notch too, bolting in their direction to result in a head-on clash between the two machines.

But just at the last second before their collision, Tails sharply turned to the right, knocking Sonic to the side and landing him on his injured arm, causing him to cry out in pain. As the X-Cyclone dodged out of Missile Wrist's way, he frowned and said chidingly, "You couldn't have turned a little gentler?"

After he noticed what happened and why Sonic was rebuking him, Tails apologized, and the hedgehog sighed tiresomely and forgave him.

Once the robot realized what had happened, he stopped. But before he could turn around, the X-Cyclone spun around to face it, and Tails fired three rocket missiles at it.

But Eggman's machine proved itself a worthy foe when it dodged the whole projectile trio, by descending and ascending at rapid speeds, so swiftly that it was almost a blur. And Tails' missiles clashed uselessly and exploded, but it did no harm to Missile Wrist 2.

_It really is fast! _Tails thought, shocked. _And it probably just used it motion radars to avoid all my missiles, _he reasoned.

It was Missile Wrist's turn to attack as it charged at them again, aiming for the X-Cyclone's right wing. Since Tails didn't have enough time to maneuver out of the way, he pressed the button that would trigger the shield.

The swift robot crashed into the shield at full force and continued pushing on without letting up. With the powerful robot forcing it back, Tails' aircraft was steadily being it pushed back, the pilot contemplating on what the right move was.

Then he realized that Missile Wrist was putting his full attention on the plane and wouldn't notice any missiles coming at him until it was too late. Or at least that was what Tails hoped.

Working the controls, the orange fox sent homing missiles out from the back of the X-Cyclone, and hastily backed the plane away to avoid the explosion that would soon follow.

The robot gave chase to the aircraft, completely oblivious to the missiles pursuing it from behind, until they were several feet away that is, and Missile Wrist flew up, attempting to get away from them. But since he didn't know they were homing missiles, he didn't know they would follow him.

Steadily gaining speed on it, the missiles finally caught up to the robot, and an explosion followed, filling the air with smoke and fire.

"And that's check and mate!" Tails shouted triumphantly as he halted his plane.

"Uh, Tails?" Sonic said from behind him in a voice hoarse from coughing fits.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think the fight's over yet," he warned him uncomfortably.

"What do you-" Tails broke off as he saw Missile wrist shot out of the smoke, towards them.

"How the? What the?" Tails questioned, surprised.

"Tails, it survived the base exploding! You have to try a different tactic!" Sonic instructed him, an anxious frown set on his face, his usual proud demeanor replaced by a serious air.

Tails nodded in agreement, and pressed a few buttons on the control panel, transforming it into Battle Armor mode, called the Hyper Tornado.

The plane's two wings flipped over and the two main engines, once hidden, but now visible, turned into a pair of arms, concealing a shield in the right arm and a sword in the left. The Hyper Tornado has an even more increased speed than before, superior defenses, a new way to attack Missile Wrist, similar to hand-to-hand combat, and better maneuverability. But its downside is that is has no way of landing without taking damage. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

Tails used the Hyper Tornado's amplified speed to his advantage to dodge out the charging Missile Wrist's way. In this mode, both the robot's and aircraft's speed were matched, so it would be a pretty fair fight.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep: <strong>Yay for cliffhangers! And I still can't believe you guys couldn't guess the attacker.

By the way, I got Tails' plane's names all mixed up. The "X-Cyclone" is really called the "X-Tornado", in Sonic X anyway. And I just used the name "Hyper Tornado" for the "Battle Armor Mode" So if anyone wants to know what Tails' plane looks like, there you go. Look it up on the Sonic X Wiki. Sorry for the name mix-up. I may fix it when I'm done with the story, but not now.

And, yes, I really went into the point of view of a robot, shut up.


	14. Chapter 14

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **Sorry for the long wait. I've been extremely busy with all my finals for school and shopping with my mom for Christmas presents. And December has just been the worst month for me, and I haven't been in the mood to write, and I've been playing Sonic Generations more than I should. God, that game's so addicting and fun! So, sorry!

And I wasn't expecting three pages of reviews, or three favorites from one chapter.

Sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm not that good at fight scenes, but I'll try.

_sonictailsbros: _In order to be a master of guessing, you must consider all the options. You have a lot to learn about the art of predicting. And wow, only two chapters and you already killed somebody, and revealed who Dark Nega is. Amazing. Why'd you kill off Light, he reminded me of Tails! And no one kills Tails. He's too adorable to die.

_prowerboy: _Yay, I'm getting better at dialogue! And it took me thirteen chapters to do it! Wow, I'm slow.

_sagapaga: _Isn't robot view just awesome? No one goes into the point of view of a robot. Why? I mean they have feelings too. Look at Gamma and the Transformers.

_Thomas Holmes II:_ I feel like I meant something when I typed that, but I can't remember what. But that's what three weeks and high school finals can do to you. They mess with your mind.

_Metalshadow1909: _Are you going to be reviewing every other chapter from now on? And thank you! That was exactly what I was trying to improve on. It isn't really my specialty. Describing is more of my thing.

* * *

><p>Missile Wrist 2 sharply turned around as it fired five rockets at Tails' aircraft. Seeing this, Tails used the shield to block the attack, charging toward Eggman's robot while doing so. The Hyper Tornado's sword-like weapon swiftly slid out and was advanced toward Missile Wrist.<p>

The robot stopped shooting out missiles and grabbed the sword with his metallic hands to spin and throw Tails' plane toward the ground. Tails recovered from the shock from Missile Wrist stopping his weapon enough to straighten out his plane's flight course and flying it back into the air, only to meet Missile Wrist advancing toward them.

Missile Wrist used his own arms to punch the Hyper Tornado's shield, cracking it and causing Tails' plane to careen back towards the hard ground.

"Okay, you're really starting to get on my nerves," Tails muttered menacingly, tilting the plane's controls back up. He reclined the sword and shield back into their respective arms, and punched Eggman's machine back, and it flew backwards uncontrollably. However it quickly leveled out and shot out bombs.

Tails brought out the sword again and slashed through the explosive devices, and they detonated without harming Tails and Sonic.

But shooting out of the smoke was Missile Wrist as he rammed into the Hyper Tornado, aiming to overpower it, and squash it flat like a bug on the ground. But it underestimated the strength of Tails' plane as the Hyper Tornado stopped it and pushed back, albeit more forcefully than the first time.

Missile Wrist backed off and readied itself for the oncoming attack he knew Tails would launch on him a second. And he was proved right as the fox pilot shot out ten or more rockets and homing missiles.

"Hey, Tails, did you happen to -" Sonic started to ask, but got cut off by his own coughing. Tails shuddered to how weak his voice sounded, compared to his typical cocky and confident tone. But after the speedy hedgehog's coughing fit ended, he didn't continue his question.

Still shooting off various attacks to slow down Missile Wrist from reaching them, Tails prompted Sonic to resume with his question. "Did I happen to what?" he asked, looking back at Sonic, who was staring out the window at Eggman's robot with a distant look in his emerald gaze and his head cocked on the side. When he heard Tails' voice, his ears twitched slightly, and intelligence returned to his eyes.

"Sorry, I kind of zoned out there for a moment," he apologized, flashing Tails a sheepish grin. "I was going to say, did you happen find a Chaos Emerald?"

"No, I haven't," Tails answered, a regretful tone in his voice, turning back around in his seat, his watchful eyes searching for Missile Wrist, who has seemed to have disappeared during the few seconds they were talking. "I guess it would've been a good idea to look for at least one of them at Eggman's base, though," he said, remembering the reason why he _hadn't_ looked for one; he had been too worried about his friend to care, but his concern is justified, since Sonic was barely managing to stay awake as of this point.

Sonic seemed to have read his thoughts, for he replied, "You know I would've been fine for a couple more minutes." He, too, was looking for a sign of their opponent.

Tails let out a disbelieving grunt. "Really? Because you're not what I call 'fine', Sonic."

"I'm fine enough, at least. But where did that stupid robot go?" he asked nonchalantly, not really expecting an answer, and Tails didn't offer him one.

Tails checked the radar and it showed that Missile Wrist was still near them. "Do you think he gave up on attacking us?" the fox asked Sonic hopefully. If the robot was done fighting them, it meant he could finally give his friend the help he needed. Tails looked back at his injured friend, his normally bright eyes darkened with anticipation and concern.

But to his disappointment, Sonic shook his head, wincing, and stated the obvious. "No, Tails. That robot was sent to kill us, and if I know Eggman, which I do, he ordered it to not stop until he has defeated us."

Tails nodded in understanding, for he had known the answer before Sonic had said anything, but he just wished that, for once, he and his friends could catch a break.

As the fox turned back to face the front of the plane, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Smiling triumphantly, Tails shot out missiles in Missile Wrist's direction, hoping the swiftness of the projectiles would be enough to cause some major damage to the robot.

**§ Sonic §**

As tempting as it was to close his eyes and give in to the dizzying darkness that would be waiting for him, Sonic knew he had to stay awake, just in case Tails needed him or something. But it was extremely difficult, considering he crashed into either of the sides of the Hyper Tornado every time Tails made a sharp turn, only adding to his pain even further.

He tried to keep his mind on the battle that was going on, even occasionally giving Tails some advice, but all of his wounds were screaming protests in his mind, distracting him more than need be.

Sonic ran his right hand over a large cut that ran across his torso, wincing a little. It stopped bleeding quite a while ago, but it still hurt like crazy. Heck, his whole body felt as if it were on fire, except for the body parts he couldn't even feel, such as his arm and leg.

He attempted to drag his train of thought away from his own suffering, which he was surprisingly able to do, but he still struggled on focusing on the fight.

But from what Sonic saw, Tails had found Missile Wrist, and was now shooting at the robot. But his attacks failed as Eggman's machine shot out a wave of pink energy that sliced through Tails' missiles as easily as if they were paper.

The strange pink energy was partly made up of chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic could feel it. With all of his exposure to the Chaos Emeralds, and their powers, and all of his experience using them, which was relatively more than all of his friends, he could easily tell that much. Just like how he had known Chaos was made of the Chaos Emerald's power, before Eggman had told him his name.

_Eggman must have used the Chaos Emeralds' power to create Missile Wrist if he has an attack like this_, Sonic mused, about to warn Tails.

But before he could, the chaos-based attack washed over the Hyper Tornado, completely encasing it.

_This can't be good, _the hedgehog concluded, smirking mockingly, his more arrogant and daredevil side winning over his rational and intelligent side.

**§ Tails §**

Tails frantically pressed buttons on the Hyper Tornado's control panel, trying to get whatever that pink stuff was off of his plane, and fast. He didn't know what it could do; for all he knew, it could completely disintegrate the Hyper Tornado, not to mention him and Sonic. Tails shuddered at the thought.

The energy washed over the Hyper Tornado's shield, blocking both Tails and Sonic's view.

_Is this just a way to block our vision? _Tails wondered, checking the radar, and Missile Wrist wasn't moving an inch, so it couldn't be an attempt to stop them from seeing what he was up to. _Or maybe it's an attack that just didn't- _

Tails didn't even get to finish his thought as the pink energy turned into a gas, and passed right through the shield. It filled the air inside the plane and surrounded Sonic and Tails.

"Don't breathe it in Tails!" Sonic directed from behind him, his soft voice muffled. Tails would've usually asked why, but he wouldn't dare do anything that would cost him oxygen. He covered his mouth with one of his hands, keeping one on the controls so they wouldn't crash, hoping that whatever-this-was would go away soon, so he could breathe again.

Ten seconds passed, and the strange gas was starting to fade, but very slowly. In a matter of seconds it would diminish completely.

Missile Wrist predicted this so he charged into the side of Tails' plane, knocking the air out of both anthropomorphic animals, and they both gasped.

_I breathed in, _he thought, that, Tails started coughing spasmodically, a fit he couldn't stop. Sonic was too, his coughing weaker thanks to his current condition.

Tails closed his eyes and wished this would all just end. And in a few seconds, he stopped coughing, so he slowly opened his eyes. When he saw where he was, they widened in shock.

He was now sitting at his dining room table, back at his house! Tails stared confusedly around as he wondered whether this was a dream, or whether everything that happened before with him and Sonic was a dream instead.

**§ Sonic §**

Once he breathed in the smoky gas, his life started flashing before his eyes. The first time he became Super Sonic, Shahra and Erazor Djinn, Perfect Chaos, fighting Finalhazard. He saw it all.

But he was not down for the count yet. He was not going down without a fight, and Missile Wrist would realize it soon enough.

This is chaos energy we're talking about, and Sonic can handle it. He has plenty of times after all.

After the pictures from the story of his life ended, he blinked open his eyes, relieved he was still in the Hyper Tornado. There was just one problem; they were on a flight course that surely led to the ground.

"Tails!" Sonic called out to his pilot. No answer.

_He must've breathed in the smoke like I did, _Sonic assumed, gritting his teeth. _If it harms him in any way, Eggman will have to answer to me._

But first, he knew, he had to defeat this robot, and stop their crash somehow.

_C'mon Sonic, think! You've gotten out of tighter situations before! _his mind yelled at him.

Just then he remembered something Tails told him once, when he started upgrading the X-Cyclone, before all this drama between them started, and right after Tails had temporarily got over Cosmo's death.

Flashback

"So that's how much of the X-Cyclone I'm going to upgrade," Tails told him, a confident glint in his blue orbs.

"Nice, but are you sure you'll be able to fix it _that_ much?" Sonic inquired, narrowing his eyes dubiously, remembering the recent crash Tails got into during an air battle with Eggman.

"I'm positive," Tails stated irritably, apparent from his twitching tails, glaring at Sonic. Then he relaxed his scowl, and continued talking. "And I guess I should tell you I'm going to install another control panel."

"A second one? Why?" Sonic questioned, crossing his arms.

"I'm installing it for the . . ." Tails pondered on the name for a moment. "-passenger seat, I guess you could say." He laughed softly as he finished his sentence.

"For the seat behind you, you mean?"

Tails mock-glared at Sonic. "I couldn't think of the name, sue me," he joked.

Sonic smiled. "Well, I could use the money. Being a hero's not the best-paying job, you know," he countered light-heartedly. "But, still, why install one for the 'passenger seat'?" he asked, putting an extra emphasis on 'passenger seat', purposely trying to annoy his two-tailed friend. And for his efforts he received a gentle punch from Tails on his right shoulder.

"Let it go, and because if something happens to me, someone's going to have to fly the plane."

"What? You mean me?" Sonic inquired incredulously.

"Well, sure, you can pilot a plane, can't you?" Tails said sarcastically. He resumed before Sonic got a chance to answer. "So, if something happens to me, or the controls somehow get damaged in a fight, the X-Cyclone won't crash again."

"Okay, I understand that much, but what if someone else sits in the 'passenger seat', and they can't fly a plane?" Sonic responded hesitantly, taking a seat on Tails bumpy couch, and crossing his legs, a thoughtful look in his emerald eyes.

"It's not going to be in plain sight!" Tails protested, frustration clear in his voice. "How stupid do you think I am?" He narrowed his eyes dangerously, daring Sonic to answer that question.

"Okay, then, how would I access it?" Sonic queried, for once, in this entire conversation, being serious.

Tails nodded in approval at the hedgehog's behavior. "I'll also install a lever underneath the seat. That way, no one would find it unless they were looking for it." Sonic acknowledged him with a nod of understanding, but then he opened his mouth to ask another question, but Tails interrupted him.

"And before you ask why I'm doing this, it's because it's better to be safe than sorry."

End of Flashback

_Tails, you were right when you said it's better to be safe than sorry, _Sonic admitted to himself as he searched for the lever under his seat, his arm feeling as wobbly as Jell-O. After he found it he fought to get a grip, but once he finally did, he pulled it up. He could now see the ground below them, and it turns out they were now above the ocean.

But as he pulled the lever, the leather on the back of Tails' seat all but ripped apart as a replica of Tails' control panel slid out.

But after Sonic got a good look at the size of the control panel, he glanced back at Tails' seat. _How in the life of Chaos did he manage did to fit this inside his seat? _Sonic just shrugged and lifted his right arm to grip the yoke. He tried to lift his other arm as well, but forgot that his shoulder was dislocated, if not worse, as in broken.

He glared at his left arm for a second, thinking one thing: _How do you pilot a plane with one hand? _He sighed and tilted the controls up, albeit awkwardly, to halt the Hyper Tornado's crash. _Tails, you owe me big time once this is over._

Sonic looked at the radar positioned on the far right, noting Missile Wrist was still nearing them. Sonic rolled his eyes. _What, coming to see whether you killed us or coming to finish us off?_

Whatever Missile Wrist came for, Sonic knew that he had to come up with some plan to defeat him. He was already at a serious disadvantage thanks to his unresponsive arm.

That was what Sonic was most concerned about; he still was a decent pilot, even though he hasn't had much practice lately, but the times he has piloted any sort of plane, he always had _two _arms, not one.

As he flew the Hyper Tornado to a higher elevation, Sonic kept one eye on the radar, just in case Missile Wrist attempted to do something sneaky. Eggman's robot was now a good fifty feet away from them, the Hyper Tornado a victim to whatever attacks it had at its disposal.

That reminded Sonic of one important thing: _What other attacks can the Hyper Tornado do? _Tails had told Sonic earlier that he had added some new attacks, but he hadn't told him exactly what they were. Glancing at the control panel for the second time, he encountered a new problem: nothing was labeled.

"Tails, you _definitely _owe me big time after this is over," Sonic muttered frustratedly, knowing that the two-tailed fox wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. But if Tails did happen to be awake at that moment, he would've heard Sonic grumble about why _he _wasn't the one unconscious instead of Tails, and if that he was awake, Tails would obviously be flying the plane himself.

Hearing an explosion behind them snapped Sonic out of his thoughts. The speedy hedgehog looked up sharply, estimating what the chances were that it was Missile Wrist. And if it was, where was the rear security camera that Tails always had in his planes.

Sonic examined the control panel with a dubious and wary expression. He knew better than to test random buttons he didn't know the purposes to. If he did that, next thing he knew, they'd be heading towards the ocean.

With great struggling, Sonic managed to turn the plane around in time to see Missile Wrist's eyes glowing orange. Before Sonic had time to contemplate what the robot was doing, and orange beam shot of its eyes, aiming for the Hyper Tornado's wing.

"Why does Eggman go for the wing," Sonic wondered as he dodged out the way of the attack, remembering how Eggman had almost killed them by firing at the wing with the Egg Carrier. They would've died if it hadn't been for Tails' superb piloting capabilities.

**§ Tails §**

"This can't be happening, nor can it be real," Tails whispered unbelievingly, getting up from his seat and looking around.

"What do you mean?" a voice asked, one that Tails only knew too well. Departing from his kitchen was his love, the one he had to kill to save the galaxy from the Metarex: Cosmo.

"No, you're not real; you can't be!" Tails said while backing away. "You're just a figment of my imagination." He received a confused stare from Cosmo in return. "You'll fade away any moment now," he explained.

"Tails, I fear I don't understand what you mean," Cosmo replied, genuine hurt shining in her blue eyes.

"This has to be a dream. You're supposed to be dead!" Tails exclaimed; it's not that he didn't wish Cosmo was alive, but if he got attached to the belief that she was, he'd be miserable all over again once he realized that she was, in fact, dead.

"Tails, I can't be dead; I'm standing right here, aren't I?" the seedrian girl questioned him.

Tails glanced uncertainly at her, then returned his gaze back to the floor. "You are dead. I shot Sonic and Shadow out of the Sonic Power Canon at you. And you sacrificed yourself to save the galaxy from the Metarex!"

"Tails, Shadow's been working as a secret agent of G.U.N., and Sonic's the one that sacrificed himself," Cosmo said, an honest and stubborn tone evident in her gentle voice.

Tails shook his head. "No, he didn't," he said, equally as determined. "He brought me back a seed. And you're dead, no matter what you say," Tails finished regretfully. He turned his back on her and ran out the door. Cosmo followed him out, and called out to him.

"Tails, wait! Please come back!" Tails didn't look back, but instead kept on running, hearing Cosmo shout in his ears, her voice getting softer with every step he took. "Tails . . . Tails!" Eventually her voice faded away, becoming one with the wind.

Tails slowed down to a halt, panting, his head hanging, gaze focused on the ground . . . _I've got to get out of here, _he thought frantically. "Tails! Wait up!" Tails' head snapped up at the sound of Cosmo's pained voice and he saw her floating towards him from the sky; her floating skills had always been superior to her running skills.

"I'd rather not," he replied as he started running again, but he was stopped short as she landed in front of him. He started skidding to a halt, but since he had been running too fast, he couldn't stop in time. But, instead of Cosmo stopping him, he skidded right through her, earning a shocked gasp from Tails.

After he had stopped, Tails turned back to look at her, a translucent girl in front of his eyes instead of a solid-being. Tails sighed dejectedly. "I knew you weren't real," he said, more to himself than to her.

Once he said that, she disappeared, leaving Tails alone in the middle of a plain. Tails scanned it. _Now what?_

"Tails?" Tails' ears perked up and he sighed in exasperation; he had thought Cosmo was gone already. _I'm done living in the past already._

Tails heard his name being called again, except this time it wasn't Cosmo's voice, and it was a lot quieter. It sounded like her voice mixed with someone else's, like her voice was morphing into theirs. They called again. "Hmm . . ." _That voice sounds sort of familiar. _He could recognize the voice, but he couldn't name it.

"Tails . . . Tails!" As it continued calling to him it turned into a voice he grew up with, becoming louder with each call. "Tails!" And now Tails could clearly tell it was Sonic. He sounded pretty stressed. "Tails, WAKE UP!"

_Wake up? _Tails wondered, a little confused. _How do I wake up? _Before Tails got a chance to think up a solution, he found himself back in the Hyper Tornado. _Oh, so blinking wakes you up apparently. _

He was greeted with another panicked yell from Sonic. "Sonic, I'm awake already, but what's happening?" he asked, somewhat impatient.

Sonic rolled his eyes, one hand grasping the controls, and the other hanging limply by his side. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe getting beat by a stupid robot, because someone forgot to label the controls, and also forgot that I can only use one arm," the hedgehog replied testily, getting faster at the end.

"I'm sorry, it was Missile Wrist's attack, and I-" He was interrupted by Sonic, who had already forgiven him.

"I know, and I forgive you, but you're going to have to take the controls," he said, to which Tails obliged, grabbing the yoke with both of his hands. "Also, welcome back to the land of the living."

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep: <strong>To those of you who had enough patience to wait for this chapter, I congratulate you. But, seriously, I am so sorry. Going back to school is not fun.

And, for future refrences, I will NEVER end a story like this! So if I say "It's not over yet," it's not over yet. And I will never abandon a story, nor do I like it when other people do it, but I can forgive them, because they lost inspiration. But even if I do lose inspiration, I'll still continue a story. It'll just take longer to write.

I'll put up the next chapter as fast as I can, and hopefully you won't have to wait another month.


	15. Chapter 15

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **I've got nothing to say about this chapter, except that I'm not that good with fight scenes, since I've hadn't had much practice. But fighting scenes with two machines . . . are even tougher to make. Yeah, this chapter was full of annoyances.

Random question: Have any of you seen that Progressive commercial with Sonic in it? If not, you have to check it out on YouTube. I died from laughter within the first five seconds.

_sonictailsbros: _Yeah, I know that (I did read your story up to chapter 4), and I mean, why Light? Why not someone else?

_BlueParadoxical: _New reviewer, yay! And my god, that is one of the nicest reviews I've ever read on . I'm flattered you find my story that good. And to think it's my first, and that means the ones to come will be even better. I try to keep my writing smooth, with a good flow to it, and some good vocab thrown in as well. I still need to perfect this style, though. But your review sort of has that style; you should totally write stories, they'd be amazing. Yeah, about the Tails and Cosmo thing, I plan to completely re-edit my past chapters. **(But don't tell anybody! It's a secret.) **Standing ovation, huh? I didn't think it was that good. But I'm not going to try to change your mind, I'm not that modest. And ending this story on Ch. 14 is something I would do.

_prowerboy: _Umm . . . what exactly is creepy? Well if you read my profile, you'd see that I said I'm finishing _**all **_stories, so of course I'm finishing this story! Though I'm going to be sad when it _is _over.

* * *

><p>Back on focus, and this time not having any quarrels with the past, Tails scanned the radar, noting that Missile Wrist was flying toward them at an incredible velocity, though it was nowhere near Sonic's speed; Sonic must've gotten an attack in, stalling time while he tried to wake Tails up.<p>

He prepared the shields, just in case they would be needed, but he silently prayed that they wouldn't be.

Tails still felt guilty about leaving Sonic to fight Eggman's robot when he needed to save his strength. "Sonic, how long have I been out?" Tails asked, clearly hesitant, a small trace of embarrassment mixed with hesitation in his voice.

"About fifteen minutes, I suppose. Fifteen minutes that were wasted, as I was only able to get a few hits on Missile Wrist, which hardly even seems like they made a dent. It's a worthy opponent," Sonic admitted grudgingly, probably pouting behind him because he couldn't fight Missile Wrist on his own, but instead needed assistance from the X-Cyclone, which, in Tails'' book, was not something to be ashamed of. But just the thought of accepting help had damaged Sonic's pride. Or maybe he was pouting because he hasn't had a good sprint in three days.

"It's just as good a fighter as E-99 was, maybe even better," the blue hedgehog finished thoughtfully. Tails huffed in response, recalling the giant robot Eggman had built, a real killing machine, and he felt a sudden burst of anger directed at the evil scientist and the Eggsterminator, as Eggman had called him.

It had nearly killed about a hundred G.U.N. soldiers and Sonic himself as well. When Sonic had fought it, the Eggsterminator had used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to track Sonic's every move, catching him and everybody off guard, and throwing him into the side if a nearby building, where he had crashed right through two more, finally stopping once he collided into the concrete wall of another building.

And he was still willing to fight.

But on his second attempt to attack it, Sonic got thrown down to the ground, where E-99 started pummeling him, while G.U.N. aircrafts and Tails' plane just hovered nearby, unable to do anything but avoid the Eggsterminator's thrashing arms. Planes that got too close were sliced in half and exploded, killing those who didn't escape in time.

When Eggman's gigantic robot held up his victim, the sight was horrifying enough, and painfully familiar, for Tails to gasp in terror. It looked very much like what he had found in Eggman's destroyed base: an unconscious, severely hurt, and lifeless Sonic. Utterly, utterly lifeless.

But he had been breathing, though that fact had been lost on Tails as fear swallowed his heart whole; he had gotten that same feeling when Cosmo had asked him to shoot her.

When Eggman had commanded for E-99 to let Sonic down, a surge of relief rushed through Tails' heart. Well, at least until E-99 flung Sonic into the ocean with a strong kick from its mechanical leg.

If they hadn't had access to the Chaos Emeralds that day, they all would've followed Sonic's fate.

And this robot was just as powerful! Tails regretted, once again, not picking up the Chaos Emeralds when he had the chance; he blamed his protective and caring side.

Tails glanced at the radar again; it wouldn't be long before Missile Wrist would be there.

"Sonic, has it done any other attacks?" Tails asked, hoping to get an advantage over the robot.

"Let's see," Sonic said to himself. "It can shoot a laser beam from its eyes, and it can shoot flames out its arms, and it has pretty good range too."

"What a relief," Tails muttered, dreading the battle ahead of them. "And speaking of the devil." Just at that moment, Missile Wrist came into clear view.

Sonic, having heard what Tails said, tried to encourage him. "Hey, don't worry Tails; I'm sure we'll get through this. We always do."

Having upon seeing them, Missile Wrist flashed out four homing missiles and shot them towards them. Tails easily sliced them in half with his plane's sword, then charged forward towards the robot, tempting it into a close-combat battle.

His plan worked as the robot drove in closer, his arms rearing back, ready to deal out a heavy blow.

Tails swiftly flew the plane up, dodging and smashing the Hyper Tornado's sword down onto Missile Wrist's head. It did little more than put a deep scratch into the strong armor, and daze Missile Wrist.

Tails took advantage of the robot's stunned state and quickly fled away from it

_There's got to be some way to break through his defenses._ Tails mind raced as he tried to think of a plan, but failing. He sighed, admitting defeat. _This thing is near impossible to defeat. _

**§ Sonic §**

Sonic, however, was much more positive than his comrade, a thoughtful expression in his emerald eyes as he considered what he knew about Missile Wrist so far, to come up with a solution of how to defeat him. Without any Chaos Emeralds at their disposal.

He had been afraid of this since the time he first used all the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic, against E-99: that he'd become too reliant on them. He's so used to using them during what looked like an unbeatable situation, where the odds were turned against them.

He was usually confident in these situations though, but right now, not so much. They didn't have any Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic wasn't really battle-fit. It was all up to the X-Cyclone now, and its Battle Armor Mode, the Hyper Tornado.

Not to say that the Hyper Tornado wasn't a good fighter, especially with Tails as the pilot, and all his expertise.

But there wasn't really anything he could do, except advise Tails. Heck, he didn't even have all of his body parts at his disposal. It didn't take a genius to see that what Sonic needed right then was the Chaos Emeralds, or just a plan.

_And yet __**that **__robot's able to use attacks with chaotic properties, _Sonic mused, his mind quickly processing his current thought sequence into an idea. Sonic's ears perked up with sudden understanding and intelligence. _Maybe it's . . . no it can't be._

Missile Wrist snapped out of its dazed state, and, when it detected their plane, prepared for another attack.

Watching its eyes glow again, Sonic warned Tails, somehow with a calm yet strong and confident demeanor, despite his exhaustion and the pain he was suffering. "Tails, dodge out of the way!"

Tails, trusting Sonic's instincts, did as he was told as a bright orange beam fired out of Missile Wrist's artificial eyes, which narrowly missed the Hyper Tornado's left arm.

"We may not be able to defeat with missiles or rockets, but maybe we can out-combat it," Tails whispered determinedly; Sonic vaguely wondered why he said **we**. Then he rolled his eyes. _It's probably so I don't feel like I'm useless, _Sonic thought, not really liking that idea, but still appreciated that Tails would say that just to make him feel better.

Tails casted a glance back at him. Sonic caught a glimpse of fear in Tails' eyes, two blue pools of anxiety. Though he sounded confident, his eyes revealed his true feelings; there was no doubt that his two twin tails were thrashing against the pilot seat.

Sonic smiled at him, a genuine smile instead of his usual, cocky smirk, hoping his act of confidence would lighten the fox's mood. "Don't worry; you're a great pilot. We'll find a way through this."

Time seemed to stop as fear switched to uncertainty, as if Tails was pondering on whether or not this show of bravado was true, and as if he was asking 'You really believe that?' Sonic wasn't completely positive, but there was definitely a good chance. Besides if he panicked, Tails would also, so he nodded.

Tails seemed to have believed he was being honest this time and smiled back at him before turning back around to face their opponent.

Missile Wrist was slowly hovering toward them, a bright yellow glow, mixed in with a little red and light blue, surrounding it.

"Well, that doesn't look too good," Tails said matter-of-factly.

"It's not. If it gets too close to us, it will shoot out fire, ice, and lightning all around itself, in a circle," Sonic retorted.

"Okay, first, how is that even possible? And second, how do you know that?"

"I don't know, and, you know, Tails, you were out for a good fifteen minutes."

"You were unconscious for three days," Tails countered.

"Touché," Sonic muttered good-humoredly.

"But then, why is Missile Wrist going so slow?"

Out of nowhere, a rocket missile hit the Hyper Tornado's window, more so right above Tails'' head; he seemed to shrink against his seat as he let out a small, scared whimper. Then, realizing that he had shown fear, and that Sonic had heard, regained his purposeful demeanor. ". . . Cheap shot," Sonic heard him mumble, and he couldn't resist laughing, softly, so that his frustrated pilot didn't hear him.

"My best guess is that it needs concentration to do that attack, and if it goes too fast, it'll lose its focus," he answered Tails' question, though Sonic wasn't sure he was listening, nor cared as Tails veered the plane away from the now-dangerous robot.

Missile Wrist followed their every move, refusing to be shaken off, with silent disdain. No matter how much or how sharply Tails turned, Missile Wrist was always one step ahead. At least that's what it seemed like. And Tails turned _**a lot**_, much to Sonic's annoyance, for every single time he did, Sonic all but crashed into the cold sides of the plane. It didn't help that there were a few places with a sharp nail-looking thing poking out the sides. It was thanks to those that he now had a long, but, fortunately, not deep, scratch running down the length of his right arm. It was still bleeding.

Sonic had rolled his eyes after the initial sting had faded. _I suppose Tails rushed when he was fixing this thing. At least he better hope so. _Sonic wasn't serious of course, but that fox didn't need to rush. He would've survived at least one more day.

"I can't lose it!" Tails exclaimed, unbelievably and somewhat panicky, as he had probably underestimated Missile Wrist's speed, exactly what Sonic had told him not to do. But Sonic had already known it would be hard to lose it; anyone or anything that could catch him off guard could probably keep up with Tails' plane, even with boosted speed.

Sonic sighed exasperatedly; he couldn't stand watching this game of tag any longer. "Just shoot a missile at it, Tails," he directed Tails as if he was talking to a frightened six-year-old, which actually wasn't too far from the truth.

Tails shrugged and hesitantly fired off a missile in Missile Wrist's direction. Slowing down the Hyper Tornado even a little could cost them their lives if Eggman's robot caught up.

However Missile Wrist was intent on catching up to them, and somehow going faster than before, but not too fast as to lose its mind-boggling concentration. Well, amazing for a robot, that is.

And though Tails had been dubious, Sonic's plan worked, again.

Missile Wrist hadn't noticed Tails' projectile flying at him until it was a few feet away and too late. He now only had two choices: get hit, which probably wouldn't cause much damage anyway, or sacrifice its godly attack, and recharge for another one.

"This isn't going to work, it can dodge! What's the point?" Tails asked, not even sure if Sonic was bothering to listen to him at this point.

"Just watch," Sonic said with an all-knowing smirk. "It's not as smart as Eggman claims it to be."

"Eggman said it was smart?"

"He might have said something about it, but I really can't remember. Though he may have just been bragging about how fast and powerful it is."

Just as Sonic predicted, Missile Wrist decided to use its attack to destroy the missile, a rather stupid move on its behalf, but after it exploded, the attack continued, spreading out further and further at a lightning-fast rate. Tails seemed shocked, but Sonic just waved it off.

Due to his quick thinking and fast reflexes, Tails was able to fly his plane under the attack with little trouble, avoiding what would have been major damage. If he had been a few seconds slower, the fire-lightning-ice attack would have hit the Hyper Tornado straight on, and there's no telling what could have happened.

They and the Hyper Tornado could have been either burned to death, froze to death, and electrocuted to death.

"That had pretty good range," Tails observed. Sonic wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to himself, but he put his two cents in anyway.

**§ Tails §**

"I told you, didn't I?" Sonic asked in his best fake-innocent voice, though it was lacking since he was so weak. Anyone else would say he sounded fine, but Tails knew him better than most people. He could imagine the smug expression on Sonic's face, knowing him so well.

Truthfully, Tails was impressed with Missile Wrist's capabilities; he definitely is in the running for Eggman's most genius robot yet, that's for sure.

He was mostly fascinated by how it was both fast and pretty agile while still being a sturdy and strong machine, much like the X-Cyclone itself, and its range of attacks was outstanding. It would be a useful skill for the X-Cyclone.

He longed to get a closer look, to study which wires were connected to which, and which parts went where, every component that made this robot what it was.

_But how can I? While we're fighting it? _

Tails' gloved hands gripped the controls tighter; he had a plan, a risky plan, of course risky for _him. _He couldn't ask Sonic to do this, not in his state. Maybe in other circumstances, but not these.

"Sonic, can you take the controls for a few seconds?" he asked, truly not knowing what Sonic say. All he knew was that it was either a yes or a no; he definitely wasn't going to accept, even if Sonic was his best friend. Now wasn't the time to be questioning things. But not answering his question was even worse.

"Why?" **Of course, anyone would want to know why,**His conscience told him. _But why now? _Tails was obviously annoyed by Sonic's habit of not giving direct answers, he always has been. But Tails supposed it was only fair, since he said the exact same thing when the prideful hedgehog had wanted to fight Missile Wrist. He probably still does.

Tails struggled to find an answer that Sonic would say yes to, yet trying to stay as close to the truth as possible; he couldn't lie to his best friend, or big brother, surrogate or not. It didn't help that he had sympathy for Sonic right now, for he could've avoided this entire thing and drama by just going with him to Eggman's base in the first place.

Besides it was hard to fool Sonic. Nine times out of ten, he could tell if you were lying. For example, Tails had lied about something he couldn't remember now; it paled in comparison of significance to everything else that had happened. But he did remember that he had cracked, right in front of Sonic.

It was probably his eyes, a shade of green you've never seen before, cautious yet confident, mistrusting and serious to enemies, yet warm and playful to friends.

"Since you're hesitating, I think I know why. You want to go study its inner workings, right?" said, saving Tails from having to answer. Sonic knew and understood him as much as Tails got Sonic. "And I'll let you do it if you're careful. And don't get yourself killed of course," Sonic assured him while he lifted his remaining arm up to his control panel. His arms were like deadweights, his right battling against him as he reached for the yoke and his left hanging at his side, completely lifeless. Sonic didn't have to be a doctor to know it was probably broken.

Tails, already getting out of his seat and grabbing a couple of tools out of the glove box, rolled his eyes. "God, Sonic, don't worry so much!"

"Don't worry so much!" Sonic mimicked him, in an attempt to get back at him, raising the pitch of his voice a little. And surprisingly, with that tiny adjustment, he sounded scarily similar to Tails. But Sonic mimicking him did tick him off a little, but he couldn't help but laugh as he pushed the red button that briefly opened the window/ shield (Whatever you call it, because I really don't know which one it is).

Tails and Sonic immediately felt the forceful tug of the wind on their fur, air from the outside current being forced inside the small contained space, blowing it back. Tails hands firmly gripped an old-fashioned, yellow screwdriver, in his right, and in his left, a flamethrower, used for welding. Something told him he'd need these two tools the most. Call it his inner mechanic instincts.

Tails jumped out of the plane with no hesitation, trusting his tails, and let his body flow with the wind for a moment, memorizing the current wind flow: blowing north at ten miles per hour. His tails started spinning self-consciously, so used to the normal flying routine at this point.

He headed toward Missile Wrist, while Sonic piloted the plane close behind the fox, ready to back him up if he needed the assistance.

Missile Wrist spotted him easily; how could it _not_ notice an orange fox against a cloudy, pale blue sky?

Upon seeing him, Missile Wrist shot out more missiles; Tails sighed. _If I can dodge them with a plane, I can dodge them just as easily using my tails._

Just as he predicted he would, he sped right in between them with no trouble, though a few of them were just a few inches shy of actually hitting him; this little act of fancily dodging Missile Wrist's attack was probably driving Sonic's jealousy up the wall. The hero of Mobius would usually jump on the missiles, using them as platforms to get closer to his foe, occasionally kicking the projectile right back at the user, making it look more like a show than a battle.

Instead, Sonic simply piloted the Hyper Tornado up to dodge the missiles; he didn't have the time to perform any fancy maneuvers, despite the fact that he didn't know how to do dodge things gracefully with an aircraft, especially with no labels.

And, apparently, just the fact that Tails was nearing it seemed to scare Missile Wrist, for he turned around, and flew the other war, firing out lasers from behind.

Tails mirrored the Hyper Tornado'[s last move and just flew up to avoid getting hit, staring confusedly at the fleeing robot's figure. After a few seconds of consideration, Tails realized it wasn't afraid of _him _exactly, but the tools he was carrying.

"Happen to know what that was about?" Sonic asked over the X-Cyclone's speaker; it may have changed form, but quite a few of the X-Cyclone's functions were carried over to the Hyper Tornado's design.

It took precisely five seconds for Tails to realize what Sonic had said; his voice was so raspy and quiet, unlike his normal voice, but that's understandable.

"I think it's scared I'm going to take it apart," Tails replied back, raising his voice a little against, as it could blow his voice away so Sonic wouldn't hear him. He sped up, in an attempt to catch up with Missile Wrist, Sonic following suit.

With the wind not on his side, and his energy decreasing with every minute, the Hyper Tornado was easily able to overcome him in their chase of Missile Wrist.

However, Sonic was careful to not get out of Tails sight and leave him behind, while Missile Wrist had already disappeared from Tails' vision within five minutes. Tails'' eyes narrowed in frustration, and he signaled for Sonic to stop, hoping he'd see.

Sonic halted the Hyper Tornado, waiting for the real pilot to catch up.

When the two-tailed fox did, Sonic glanced at the control panel, forgetting that he didn't know which one opened the window.

"Push the red button on the top corner in the far left," Tails directed him, landing on the space on the outside of the plane adjacent to the pilot's seat, ducking low and hanging on to the plane's paneling as best as he could to avoid getting blown away.

When Sonic's curious gaze landed on the right button, he glanced questioningly in Tails' direction, to which Tails nodded, as if saying "Yes, that's the right one".

Sonic pressed it and Tails jumped in and grabbed the seat belt, buckling it in. He returned the tools back to their proper place in the glove box, right next to a tissue box, while Sonic leaned back in his seat, attempting to relax. He scanned the radar one last time though.

"Where's it going? . . ." he murmured from behind Tails, too quietly for him to be talking to Tails, staring at the red dot on the radar, steadily getting farther away.

"I don't know. Should we follow him, you think?" Personally, Tails wanted to go after him; he still wanted to know its attacks reached so far out. But, being Sonic's surrogate "little brother", instinctively, he sought out Sonic's advice, no matter the situation, even if it was something he could handle without Sonic's help.

"Yeah," Sonic answered with that same distant tone as before. "We can't let it get away; we have to stop it now, before Eggman gets that last chaos emerald, and makes it even more powerful."

Tails received two different emotions. One was relief, relief that Sonic's recent ordeal hadn't changed his heroic attitude hadn't changed, except he may be more cautious. At least Amy's chances of losing Sonic in battle just decreased. _But then again, he has nearly died plenty of times before, _Tails reflected, then added,_ enough times to last a lifetime._

His second reaction was confusion. Chaos Emeralds? What do they have to do with Missile Wrist? Wasn't Eggman using the Chaos Emeralds to power up his newest machine, the one that had blown up?

But he didn't question Sonic. Besides, now wasn't really the time. So Tails just nodded and quietly agreed, and threw the plane into full-speed ahead once more, gaining some much needed momentum.

Missile Wrist hadn't turned nor change his altitude, making Tails wonder exactly where it was going. After all it could be useful to know.

**§ Sonic §**

Sonic yawned; the sky was still pretty dark, the stars still shining brightly, though the light from the moon was fading as the sun rose up. The entire night had been pretty quiet, as well. The serenity was lulling him, tempting him to the rest sleep would give him. He pushed the temptation away, stifling another yawn, and shaking his head roughly, trying to keep himself awake.

Sonic brought his right arm behind him impulsively, and closed his eyes, stretched out in a way similar to his classic relaxation pose. He briefly opened one eye to cast an ice-cold glare at his unresponsive arm.

And he couldn't even cross his legs, for his right leg couldn't even be moved, probably broken as well, let alone carry the weight of his left leg.

_At least these seats have a comfortable covering._

Sonic rolled his eyes, shaking his head slowly, letting out an exasperated and tired sigh. He wanted to get healed, and fast. He can't run unless he has both legs available. And he couldn't stand not running unless he was knocked out. His arm could take all the time it wanted to heal as far as Sonic was concerned, but his leg . . . he couldn't even begin to imagine how painful that would be.

At least Eggman was gone, though Sonic couldn't visualize his life without his enemy. He's been fighting Eggman for as long as he could remember.

It was like a cycle. The evil scientist would come up with a new plan, and Sonic would stop him. And the world would still be in balance. But now that Eggman was gone, Sonic's life cycle was off-balance, forget the world's.

Tails must have heard him yawn again. "I'm pretty tired too. But Sonic, you can sleep if you want to."

Sonic smiled, eyes gleaming with appreciation. "Thanks. Um . . . Tails?"

"Yeah?" Tails said as he glanced back at Sonic, eyes sparkling with concern.

"What happened to Eggman?" Sonic knew that Eggman had tried to run away, but did he actually make it? Half of him hoped so, out of fear for not knowing what to do now. Also, he never had wanted to kill Eggman, and vice-versa. But the other half was hopeful that the world was safe once and for all.

"Well, compared to you, he's in much better shape." For some reason, Sonic felt a light-hearted smile perk up the edges of his lips. "He was able to take cover in that flying machine he's always in." _So that's how he survived, _Sonic thought as he rolled his eyes, more amused than annoyed. _Eggman always was a survivor. _Sonic laughed, but nearly choked as he coughed up blood on the control panel.

"Sonic?" Tails asked anxiously.

"Don't start; I'm fine. Just worry about catching up to Missile Wrist."

Tails hesitated, wondering whether he should question Sonic's safety, but decided against it. "Right. And you should really get some rest. I'll wake you up when I think up a plan to deal with Missile Wrist."

"Alright," Sonic wasted no time in agreeing. "But is there anything that can make it more comfortable?"

Tails chuckled. "Well, then, it's a good thing I added this," he said as he pressed a blue, square-shaped button on his control panel.

Sonic's control panel instantaneously folded back into Tails' seat, and what took its place was a thin table, a pillow and a blanket lying on top.

"You sure thought of everything, didn't you?" Sonic asked as he grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself.

"Yeah, everything except labels," Tails answered, unbridled amusement in his voice at Sonic's earlier comment.

Once he covered himself with the blanket, he laid his head down on the pillow, closing his eyes, his mind content. He was asleep within seconds.

**§ Tails §**

"Sonic?" No answer.

_Hm, he must have been pretty wiped out if he's already asleep, _Tails reflected, just happy that Sonic was finally getting some much-needed rest. He was tired too, but he could wait. Besides, he had to find out a way to stop Missile Wrist.

Thirty minutes of brainstorming have already passed. Sonic hadn't stirred; Tails would've checked up on him if not for Sonic's gentle snoring, giving Tails a sign that he was still alive.

Missile Wrist had been flying in the same direction, giving Tails no clear indication of where it was going. And, seeing how Missile Wrist wasn't switching flight courses, put the Hyper Tornado on auto-pilot

Tails tapped a few buttons on the radar itself, making a virtual, enlarged copy appear on the window in front of Tails. He moved the radar's map forward to see what was ahead, and possibly get a clue of where Missile Wrist was going, when all of a sudden, Missile Wrist turned to the right.

"Huh," Tails exclaimed, loud enough to wake up Sonic, as the worldwide hero muttered a faint 'what'.

"Missile Wrist just turned, and I think it's going towards. . ." Tails didn't finish, still trying to come up with an answer for himself. He moved the map to the right.

"Where's it going towards?" Sonic asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, half-sounding like he really didn't care.

"I think it's going towards Sea Cove Island," Tails said, naming the island Eggman's now-destroyed base was located. After all, that was the closest place on the right with any significance. "But I don't know why?" he admitted sheepishly.

"Maybe it thinks Eggman's still there," Sonic guessed, before letting out a yawn.

"Well, we need to stop it before it gets there." _That robot's already hard enough without a genius with a 300 I.Q. supervising it. _

"You're right, but have you thought of a way we can stop it?" Sonic mumbled, a faint trace of uncertainty evident in his calm voice, sounding stronger thanks to his short nap.

"Well . . . um . . . I do, but it's . . . sort of risky," Tails stared at his feet as he spoke, fiddling with his thumbs, a nervous gleam in his blue eyes.

"Like what?" Sonic prompted him, pricking his ears in Tails' direction.

At the sound of Sonic's confused voice, Tails snapped out of his trance. "You remember the Sonic Power Canon?"

"The one on the Blue Typhoon?"

"Yeah, I built one on here too, for situations like this," Tails explained, slightly turning the Hyper Tornado toward Sea Cove Island. "It will be enough to destroy Missile Wrist, I know it."

Before he answered Sonic examined the Hyper Tornado, evaluating how Tails had managed to fit a replica of that canon in this small plane, at least small compared to the Blue Typhoon. "Let's try it, then," Sonic approved, however dubious he was about the size.

But, deep inside, Tails wanted to protest against his own plan. He couldn't ignore his instinct any longer. Somehow, he just felt like he was making a big mistake.

"But, Sonic! You can't be serious!" Tails shouted.

"It was your plan."

"But what if it doesn't work?" Tails yelled in a voice overwhelmed by panic.

"It _will _work," Sonic encouraged him in a calm, gentle voice. "You just got to believe that."

"But what if I made a mistake?" Tails fretted.

Sonic sighed. "Tails, you're YOU! And I have full trust in you."

"You do?" Tails questioned, peering back at him, his distress building up like raindrops on a window.

"Of course," Sonic confirmed, giving Tails a thumbs up. The fox slightly smiled, but gave him his own thumbs up in return.

"You can still spin, though, right?"

Sonic quickly looked over and assessed his injuries. "Well enough. Just make sure you catch me."

"Can do. Now, if I use our turbo-boost-"

"Wait, you even added a turbo-boost to this thing? Wow, you weren't kidding when you said 'upgrade'."

Tails rolled his eyes in amusement. "Now, as I was saying, if I use it, we should be able to cut Missile Wrist off before he gets to the island."

"Well, then, what are you waiting for? Speed this baby up!"

Tails nodded and pulled the lever, and the Hyper Tornado shot off like a rocket, the colors in the sky mingling together. This was his first time in a long time going at this speed, the first being the time he had asked Sonic to take him on a run. He remembered getting dropped off at his house, the entire world spinning in his view. Sonic had to guide him back to his bed after that.

But now that he was older, and he was used to the aftershock, going at these speeds thrilled him, as it probably did for Sonic then too, since he hasn't ran in a few days.

But it ended sooner than it had started, for they were already nearing the island. The ride probably lasted for like ten minutes, but it only felt like one to Tails.

And since they were near to the island, they got a clear view of the robot heading towards it.

"Alright, Sonic, you ready?" Tails asked him, preparing the canon for fire.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he answered, his features brimming with confidence.

"Alright, then, let's blow that robot to smithereens."

**§ Sonic §**

Next thing he knows, his seat was shuddering, and in turn shaking him. The window him opened up and slid backwards and slid into the plane. Sonic's tilted his head to the side; he didn't know it could do that, but it made all the more curious as to why is seat trembling.

Sonic didn't have much more time to wonder as his he felt his seat ascending up from the floor. He grasped the right side of his chair as he was blown to the back of his seat by the brisk wind. Then the seat spun around, so fast that it made his vision vaguely blurry, but was also because he hadn't been expecting it. But now Sonic hadn't taken off his seat belt; the wind was practically tempting to blow him away, into the sea that was, with no doubt, underneath. Sonic tried to not think about this fact _too_ much.

"And here's the canon," Tails said as he scanned the shiny silver-colored lever on his left, with 'Sonic Power Canon' on the handle in bold, black lettering. He hadn't actually installed this lever in Sonic's version of the control panel, since Sonic was the one going into the canon.

And, to Sonic's surprise, a few of the Hyper Tornado's silver panels rapidly slid away from each other, forming a rectangular-shaped, gaping hole in its place, allowing Sonic to glimpse the inner workings of the plane; it looked more complicated than the original tornado, that's for sure. Then the canon itself rose out, stopping Sonic's inspection of his old plane.

The Sonic Power Canon was gleaming in extremely shiny blue, yellow, and black paneling(Sorry, but I can't think of another word), while the inside was gray, with a small, circular platform at the opposite end of the canon, the one Sonic stood on when spinning. It was almost like an exact replica of the original canon, except that it was smaller, to accommodate to a smaller-sized plane.

As he stared at the canon, he couldn't help feeling surprised; it was this same weapon that had nearly killed Sonic, and caused the death of Cosmo. Sonic smirked an all-knowing grin. _I guess even Tails couldn't neglect its power, _Sonic thought, remembering all the fatal blows he had dealt with the help of the Sonic Power Canon. None of their enemies had stood a chance.

Before Sonic took off his seat belt, he braced himself to grab the edge of the seat as soon as he let go of the seatbelt.

Sonic glanced cautiously at the canon; if his arm wasn't fast enough, perhaps the canon could catch him.

He pricked his ears, listening for the wind, determining the current. He had this ability to read wind currents because of his superior running talents. Since the wind was a part of him, he could sense the speed and direction at which it was going. And at this time the wind stream was blowing only barely up. Sonic relaxed his posture once again, keeping his ears tilted back and in an alert position, listening for Tails' commands or Missile Wrist's attacks.

Right now Missile Wrist had seen them and their secret weapon. Sonic could hear him charging for his fire-ice-lightning attack, while Tails was watching the robot. They were acting as one; Sonic heard, and Tails saw, and they worked so perfectly in sync, Tails not telling him once to hurry up.

So, for now, the canon would catch him.

So Sonic unbuckled his seatbelt and rolled into a ball, otherwise known as his usual attacking form.

And there it was: the pain. It had been long-forgotten in the thrill and heat of battle, but now it was back, reminding Sonic, yet again, that he wasn't in the best shape.

But that didn't matter, for he also felt the joy and trust between him and Tails, something he hadn't been able to do in a long time, since before they had went up into space and met Cosmo.

Sonic, having calculated the distance before unbuckling his seat belt, safely landed on the small platform, collapsing because of his leg. He kept himself with the support of his good leg and arm.

"You ready, Sonic?" Tails asked over the plane's speaker.

"Yep," Sonic answered back, swallowing his pain and focusing his attention on the excitement of beating Eggman again. Ignoring any signs of protest from his muscles, he started spinning again, feeling the static electricity behind him build up, and surround him, giving Sonic a major power boost.

"Alright, Sonic, Missile Wrist is charging up for that attack again, so be careful. And don't worry, I'll catch you," Tails added warmly and with a hint of amusement. Sill in his spinning formation, Sonic smiled, feeling his hearten at the trust Tails had in him. If he believed he could do it, then he could.

"Target: Missile Wrist, dead ahead," Tails spoke with the same of authority he used in the Blue Typhoon. Missile Wrist had just initiated his attack. "Sonic Power Canon, FIRE!" And at Tails command, the canon filled up with a cobalt light, radiation from Sonic's blue aura.

And, like a cannonball, Sonic got fired out, heading towards Missile Wrist, certain to be the end of Eggman's robot.

Sonic passed right through Missile Wrist's most fatal attack, while Tails, having almost returned the Hyper Tornado to normal, expertly dodged the attack.

As Sonic sped towards Missile Wrist, he felt a disturbance, as if Eggman's robot was trying to get away, but the Sonic Power Canon never misses. He wouldn't let it.

And just as he predicted, Missile Wrist flew to the right, but he was already one step behind, as Sonic had already careened himself to the spot where Missile Wrist was hovering.

And just like that, Missile Wrist was no more. Sonic flew right through what would have been Missile Wrist's heart, and the robot exploded, hopefully to never be seen again, for Sonic and Tails' sake.

Tails piloted the plane around the occurring explosion, on his way to catch Sonic just like he said he would. Sensing the plane coming, Sonic directed himself toward it, and gracefully landed in his seat.

"OWW, that hurt!" he screamed as soon as he landed. Tails flashed a sympathetic, yet entertained smile.

"You would be smiling!" Sonic accused, not really meaning it, but just poking fun at Tails.

At that, Tails had to laugh. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"Hello? Tails?" Sonic said as he waved his good hand in front of Tails' face. "Can you please come back down to Earth?"

Tails seemed to hear him and snapped out of his mini-trance. "Sorry, but look!" he said urgently as he quickly turned the Hyper Tornado around.

"Hm?" Sonic muttered, looking outside to where Missile Wrist was still exploding. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Look closer."

Sonic obliged, and this time he noticed something shining. It was the color of a clear afternoon sky, except glowing like the stars, and Sonic had a feeling he knew what it was.

"The Chaos Emeralds," Sonic and Tails said in unison. Once they said that, the explosion blew the valuable in different directions. Two flew right over their heads.

"Tails!" The fox was already one step ahead of him, turning the plane and quickly gaining momentum.

"You won't be able to catch them," Sonic bluntly stated, dreading the thought of having to go into the ocean to look for all six emeralds.

"Actually, yes we will," Tails objected as he pressed another button, this time a yellow one, and a large net seemingly appeared at the nose of the plane.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sonic insisted, trying to sound serious, but his laughter ruined it for him.

"Nope," Tails confirmed as his net captured the two Chaos Emeralds. "At least we got two of them," he continued, looking down at the ocean below.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah," he agreed.

"Good thing I installed this net, huh?" Sonic tried to couldn't hold in another fit of laughter. But once Tails started looking a little down, he was able to control himself.

"Look, I didn't mean it like that, Tails. I just find it funny that is actually useful," Sonic said smoothly, with a voice soft as velvet.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to get an apology out of you, "Tails replied, retrieving the Chaos Emeralds from the net with a claw and placing them in the slot that deposited them into the Hyper Tornado's control panel. Tails grabbed them and lifted them, admiring them.

The Chaos Emerald they had gotten ahold of were the sky blue and the white ones. Sonic inspected them carefully, taking special notice of the blue one, the same one that had brought Sonic out of his silent reverie, right before Eggman's machine had blown up. Back then he had felt like he had wanted to tell him something, and now he could see he was right.

But then another idea came to his mind.

"Hey, Tails, can I see those for a minute?" Sonic asked him, still staring at the emeralds.

Tails looked up at him; he too was gazing at the emeralds in awe. "Sure," he said, handing them to Sonic without a word. None needed to be spoken.

Carefully focusing his mind on his injuries, more or less the broken arm and leg, he willed for the Chaos Emeralds to heal them. As if answering his call, they shined even brighter, and Sonic felt gentle arms wrap around him, lessoning the pain, and giving him warmth.

The healing process could have lasted for one to ten minutes, but for Sonic, it felt like an eternity. It was times like these he was glad the Chaos Emeralds chose him to be a user, for he never would've felt that wonderful feeling without them.

Once he had healed as much as he could with their limited power, he opened his eyes to find Tails staring at him, smiling happily, and the Hyper Tornado reverted back to its original form, the X-Cyclone.

"Feeling better, are we?"

"Yeah."

He held out his hands to take the emeralds back, and Sonic gladly obliged, using _both _arms this time, though his left arm still screamed in agony. Tails put them in the Chaos Emerald store in the X-Cyclone's glove box, a safe place for them for now.

Now, with nothing left to do, Tails started up the X-Cyclone and they took off at a nice, brisk pace.

"Are we heading home?" Sonic asked him.

"Yes, and then I can take a look at your injuries," the fox answered, his gaze not once leaving the path ahead of them. "But, until we get there, you should rest," he advised.

"I couldn't agree more." Sonic yawned as if to prove this statement.

Tails laughed in amusement. "I'll wake you up when we get there, then."

"Thanks, Tails," Sonic responded gratefully.

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad we're still friends."

"I'm with you on that," Sonic said sleepily as he let out another yawn, and comfortably drifted off to sleep.

Tails glanced back at his sleeping figure. "Good night, Sonic," he murmured.

* * *

><p>MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS!<p>

**Smokestep: **Although this chapter was sort of annoying, I did have tons of fun writing it, especially the end.

Sorry this took so long, but January just wasn't my month, and I've been extremely stressed about school. That, and I wanted to make it good. And if it seems a little rushed, don't worry, because I will come back and fix it.

But this story's **still not over yet**. We still have an epilogue and last author's note to get through, which will be its own 'chapter'. I suggest reading it when it comes out because it will give you an idea of what story I'm doing next.

So stay tuned for that and the epilogue! See you guys later!


	16. Epilogue

**Is It Over?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sonic characters.

**Smokestep: **Okay guys, this is what you've been waiting for, the end to Is It Over?, though it's not the last chapter if you consider an author's note a chapter. I still suggest reading it though if you want to know what stories are coming up next.

_sonictailsbros: _Tails would know, I suppose. It's weird because I didn't even know myself he was going to have the canon. I was just thinking of ways they could destroy Missile Wrist, and it just popped into my head. And excuse me, but I am an A and B student (Mostly A, since I always only have one B). I'm in the Top 10(I personally think Top 5, but they don't have that award) academically. And our class is pretty big. But, yeah, what gets me stressed are . . . ugh, presentations. I hate them so much! God, I hate having stage fright. And I didn't know you were a senior. That means you're almost off to college. Good luck, just in case this is the last time I write to you.

_DaddlerTheDalek: _It's Eggman, what can you do?

_BlueParadoxical: _It's you again, and you don't care that I took forever, granted it wasn't even my fault. We had a month research project in school that we have to present, and I hate presentations. It was also my computer's fault, it didn't want to work. Few minutes? I doubt you can read _that _fast, but if you can . . . okay, that's sweet. And I don't know about the time exactly, I'm confused as well. All I know is that it's now about 1 or 2 a.m., but I'll have to read through all the chapters before I edit this thing to make sure it makes sense. And now I have to look up what vignette means.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Tails §<strong>

The ride home felt like days, though it roughly took only about an hour, for Tails hadn't been in such a rush, as he had been when he was first on his way to Sea Cove Island.

That hour gave him what he really needed at that moment: time to think. It gave him time to think and reflect over everything that's happened, while his best friend quietly snored behind him, those somewhat muffled sounds the only sign he was still alive at this point, though Tails wasn't really worried about him; if anything, this ordeal only proved that that Sonic was still a persistent opponent, even with a few broken limbs.

To be honest, even Tails, his best friend, the person who knew him the best, hadn't expected Sonic to stay awake for as long as he did, and was still willing to be shot out of the Sonic Power Canon . . . He deserved the rest he was getting now.

But he's not invincible. He's mortal, after all, just like Cosmo.

He'd never admit to Sonic, but Tails still felt guilty about putting the blame of Cosmo's death on his shoulders, like he really needed it, dealing with Eggman 24/7. Though Tails had always known way, way, way, deep down that it was never the said blue hedgehog's fault.

And even then, Tails had always put the blame on his shoulders as well, like it was half his fault, and half Sonic's, when, in truth, it was neither of their faults.

Now that he thought about it, if Tails had the chance to relive that day when Sonic was trying to convince him of that fact, the fox wasn't sure if he would actually do anything differently, like listen to him and go with him to Eggman's base.

If anyone heard his thoughts right now, they'd most definitely think he was being selfish, not caring about his surrogate brother's safety, which wasn't even the case. But it was true: Tails wouldn't have done anything differently.

Sure, if he had trusted Sonic, and aided him at the base the day it exploded, they'd both be fine, and Eggman would still think Sonic was alive, unlike what he probably thought now.

But thanks to the unlikely turn of event s, Sonic and Tails became even closer, closer than before. They both realized just how much they'd need each other, especially when tragedy occurs. Because one of them would be there to comfort the other; Tails had just been too stubborn to accept his friend's comfort before, and pushed him and the rest of the world away, lost in his own land of misery.

Besides Tails had already lost Cosmo; he didn't need to lose another friend.

Reflecting over this last 'adventure', Tails smiled and laughed, quietly, as to not wake up Sonic, if that was even possible. He just hoped he wouldn't get another vision of an imaginary Cosmo, insisting she was alive, and that Sonic had died that day so long ago. Otherwise he'd just go into the infamous denial stage all over again, a pitiful hole Sonic would have to dig him out of . . . again.

* * *

><p><strong>§ Sonic §<strong>

_Oh, God, just kill me now._

That was the only thought that ran through Sonic's mind during his one-week recovery. Or at least a quarter of it.

_But, _he'd always reflect, _it's better than being in a hospital, I suppose._

Since Tails knew Sonic hated being taken care of in general, since it made him look 'vulnerable', he knew Sonic's temper would be twice as worse being at any hospital than it would be healing in the hands of a good friend.

Tails _had _considered admitting Sonic to a hospital when he had first found him unconscious in Eggman's base, but that been because, due to his limited medical knowledge, he hadn't known how to heal broken bones. But he did know how to fix dislocated ones; even using the Chaos Emeralds doesn't guarantee being in perfect shape afterwards.

And apparently when Sonic had been using them to heal, he hadn't focused on his leg as much as he did his arms, for it was in the worse shape, though being dislocated hadn't been that bad; Tails had easily fixed it.

His left arm, which had been broken as well, was almost completely healed from the effects of the emeralds. It was just extremely sore, that much was true. Every time Sonic had moved it to eat or something, Tails had always noticed how his features contorted in pain. Even the slightest movements triggered this pain.

He quickly learned that he had to resort to his right arm for most everyday tasks during that seven-day period; it was a good thing he was ambidextrous(He could be. You never know. He can play guitar with both hands. He holds swords in his right. Really, who knows at this point?).

That includes playing games with Tails.

That genuinely surprised him. He never expected Tails to play or even _own _any games. Granted, they did have fun playing all those various games, mostly board games, because their lives already felt like a video game(See what I did there). So, what'd be the point playing a game with an actual story.

Basically, one day, the dynamic duo had a board game marathon. They played Chess, Checkers, Battleship, Trouble, and Monopoly and a few others; they were pretty much equals, since Chess and Checkers involve strategy, and they're both good strategizers, or at least Sonic was when he tried to be. Battleship and Trouble were tests of luck, since they had to guess where the ships were, and you never know what's going to happen when those six-sided devils were involved.

But their longest game was most definitely Monopoly. It was close, but since Tails kept landing in jail, Sonic was able to claim a lot of the properties pretty quickly, therefore winning the game. Lord only knows how Tails managed to stay in the competition. He did get luck getting doubles though, so he got out of jail almost as soon as he landed in it. And Sonic kept referencing one of their past adventures, complaining how G.U.N and the rest of the world were colorblind.

What was interesting about that game was that Tails had actually customized a few of his own playing pieces: a two-tailed icon, similar to the one on most of his planes, a pair of Sonic's shoes, looking like an exact replica of his real ones, Amy's Piko-Piko Hammer, Knuckles' Master Emerald, and Cheese the Chao.

And they all looked so real, as if the game company itself made them. When Sonic asked him why and how long it took him to make them, Tails had grinned sheepishly, and simply answered, "I don't know why, but it took twenty minutes. I did it while you were resting."

Sonic had rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure you didn't know why."

When the game started, both Sonic and Tails had quickly picked their respective icons, Sonic admiring how much they looked like the real deal.

And to this day Sonic still believes that Tails did all that for him, playing games with him, just to make his recovery as enjoyable as possible, and spending time with Tails, not fighting, just having fun, made it a lot more fun. And not once did he go work on one of his many inventions.

For about half the week Sonic and Tails simply watched movies and T.V. shows. Their favorite ones to watch were the 'Comedy' and 'Horror' ones, if only to laugh at how they were polar opposites of what they're supposed to be. They even did the traditional "Don't go down into the basement" dialogue when the girl was climbing down the stairs leading to the basement. The only times they laughed were when something 'so bad that it's funny' happened, and at very _few _of the jokes made in the comedy movies.

One day, Sonic offered to help Tails with whatever invention or plane he wished. Tails had been reluctant, but gratefully accepted the help. They got a lot done that day, adding some new functions to the X-Cyclone, and chatting about nothing in particular the entire day, even sharing a plate of chili-dogs for dinner, carefully made by Tails.

And in return, Sonic made both of them pancakes and eggs for breakfast the next day.

And on that same day, they flew around in the X-Cyclone, visiting a few friends and a few of Sonic's favorite places to relax, and Tails had relented to his constant begging, and let him run free for a little while. Tails hadn't let him run that entire week, in fear that Sonic would pull something or reopen one of his wounds. Sonic savored that day like a child's favorite candy.

Sonic slept in the guest room, after Tails' insisted. But when they were nearing the end of the week, Sonic had quickly retired to his old ways of sleeping on the roof. Tails hadn't objected.

When Tails had finally given Sonic the okay-to-go late one night, the hedgehog decided to spend the rest of the night with Tails, and he appreciated the company.

When the morning came along, Tails walked into the kitchen, following his nose, which had picked up strong scents of bacon and eggs. He had expected Sonic to be in there cooking, but that's not what he found.

Instead, he found a plate of bacon, eggs, and sausage on the counter, with a note taped to it. He tore it off the paper plate, and started reading it.

_Sorry to leave you hanging like this, Tails, but I had to go on my morning run, you know? So, in return for all the hospitality you showed me, I made you breakfast. I just hope it doesn't get cold by the time you wake up._

Tails glanced at the steaming food, and realized he must've just missed Sonic by a few, maybe ten minutes. Shrugging, he picked one of the pieces bacon and took a bite, and continued reading.

_Thanks, Tails, for being with me this week and not complaining about me being a burden. Don't even argue, Tails, you know I was._

Tails laughed at this, nearly choking on his bacon while doing so.

_But I'll visit you later today, alright. Enjoy your breakfast. And I hope I don't have to put my name, right? You should who this is after all._

Tails smiled warmly, looking over the note again, and cocked his head to the side, a curious frown replacing his smile. _Who knew Sonic had such good hand-writing? _Sonic's hand-writing was like an improved version of his autograph that he'd give some people if they asked. They would also ask for Tails' autograph as well if he was there.

When he reached the end of the note, his smile returned to his face again. "You're welcome, Sonic," he whispered affectionately. He then picked up his plate and ambled over to his stupid couch.

* * *

><p>Later that same day, Sonic returned to Tails' house, an urgent air in place of his usual carefree attitude.<p>

"Tails!" he called, scanning the living room and kitchen.

"Up here! In the office!" a higher-pitched voice answered from upstairs. Sonic raced up the stairs, nothing more than a blue blur speeding through the broad hallway.

The door to the office was wide open, saving Sonic from the trouble of having to open it. Walking in, he spotted Tails on the computer, searching up what looked like . . . couches?

Narrowing his eyes inquisitively, with an incredulous expression on his face, he crossed his arms and closed the distance between him and Tails.

"Tails, what are you doing?" he asked when he reached the computer desk.

"Looking up a decent furniture store," he said matter-of-factly, as if he thought that much was obvious.

"Okay . . . why?"

This time Tails turned to glance at him. "Because I need a new couch. The one I have now is just too uncomfortable," Tails explained as he resumed his search.

Sonic nodded, recalling how during their T.V. marathon, he had sat in Tails' lounger, preferring that to his rough couch, though it was a nice shade of light blue. "Okay, I understand that much, but you're going to have to pause that little search of yours."

"Why?"

"Because Eggman is attacking Sienna City." Tails had sighed before Sonic had even finished the sentence. He knew where the blue hedgehog was taking this.

"Can't it wait?" he asked, turning to Sonic with blue, pleading eyes, pulling off the puppy-dog face perfectly.

Sonic closed his eyes and shook his head. Closing his eyes made it easier for him to resist the face, and the temptation to let Tails continue with his little mini-mission. "No. You know the city's counting on us," he said sternly.

"Aw, come on, Sonic, lighten up," Tails whined. "The city will be fine for a little while. Eggman won't blow it up in ten minutes."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "That's my line!" he exclaimed, and gently pulled Tails' away from the computer, which at that point he had no choice but to go along.

"Alright, this just better not take that long," Tails relented, running ahead of Sonic. "Race ya to the X-Cyclone!" he shouted to Sonic, getting a fairly good head-start.

Sonic narrowed his eyes playfully. "You're on, Tails!" he called back, chasing after his best friend. He would let Tails win this one, but only this one.

* * *

><p><strong>Smokestep: <strong>Wow, it's finally the end. I loved writing this chapter, especially once I reached the part with the games, because that and everything after that was so much fun to write. I felt myself get really in tune with the characters. So, I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I had fun writing it!

LAST AUTHOR'S NOTE COMING SOON! I still suggest reading it if you like my stories as I'll sort of reveal what I'll write next.


	17. Author's Note

**Is It Over?**

**1)** I'd just like to say thanks for reading this far, and waiting for, like, five months. But, you know, everyone has more than one hobby. But, yeah, thanks for reading, reviewing, alerting, and/or faving. My reviewers are definitely the reason I kept on writing, so special thanks to them, especially _sagapaga_, for she was my first reviewer ever, and she motivated me to continue when I was stuck on Chapter 2, and also the people who reviewed more than once. So there you go.

**2)** _Next Stories__: _ Two Sonic Game adaptions (Hint: They're two stories that hardly anyone has done, or the adaptions that people have written aren't good, or some people haven't finished them). Now, if I see that no one wants to read it, I will probably delete it. Just giving anyone reading this a fair warning in case they give it a chance.

After those two stories, I will **probably** write my story over my fan character in the Warrior series. But mine will be different from other fan characters, as she will have quite a big backstory.

**3)**_ Possible Stories__: _Something to do with Teen Titans and Sonic. In their respective stories, I don't like crossovers. Oh, and something to do with the Olympic Games, as in the Mario and Sonic series. And that's about it. I'll probably come up with more ideas as time goes on.

**4)** _One-shots:_ I will write one-shots in between of multiple-chapter stories, to keep my readers entertained. They will be over various series, once I come up with ideas for the one-shots.

EDIT:**5) **But before I even start any of those, I'm going to edit this story all the way from the first chapter to the epilogue, and add things I may have missed. It goes the same for all my one-shots, so if you reread any chapters and you notice slight differences, that's why.

P.S. My best friend says hi to all of you in the U.K.!


End file.
